The Importance of Digital Transformation in International Business

This study was developed under the scope of a Portuguese project focused on the entrepreneur’s perspective and perception on the internationalization process of his company: more specifically, about the factors that enhanced the company entry into foreign markets as well as the constraints found in this process. This work focuses on the importance of using digital transformation to integrate technological tools in international business practice and strategy and the obstacles encountered with introducing these new technologies. This study aims to determine the relationships between technology categories and obstacles. The final goal is to assess the impact of these characteristics of the companies by the sector of economic activity, size, and percentage of profits resulting from international expansion. A questionnaire was designed and sent by email to 8183 companies from the AICEP database, distributed by three main activity sectors. A total of 310 valid answers were gathered from the Portuguese internationalized companies. The research limitations are related to the reduced number of interviews. These interviews showed that managers were not aware of the concept of digital transformation and misunderstood the use of digital technologies in the internationalization process of the business. This limitation can add some bias to the qualitative results. In addition to these limitations, the number of responses per sector was also not homogeneous. The practical implications of this study are that managers and top-level executives can use that to better understand how companies could use digital tools and what obstacles they should avoid when they want to internationalize their business. This paper is one of the first research contributions to analyze the impact of digital transformation in the internalization of Portuguese companies.

Understanding the antecedents of family influence in the family firm

PurposeWhat makes family influence so influential in the family firm? Time and again, research studies point to family influence as a factor that significantly impacts decision-making in the family business, thus highlighting the need to investigate the variables which cause family influence to be so powerful. The purpose of this study is to explore the construct of family influence in the family firm, under an integrative lens that combines insights from Institutional Theory and the Resource-Based View.Design/methodology/approachThe quantitative approach was used using a 35-item survey measuring 6 constructs, where data collection yielded a total of 206 completed surveys included in the data analysis. Data were analyzed using SmartPLS (3.0) and results were appropriately reported.FindingsThe findings of this study propose that the two theoretical perspectives can be useful in explaining how various factors are able to intensify family influence on strategic family firm decisions like internationalization. Specifically, the lack of resources, government support, managerial knowledge and capability in foreign markets represent serious barriers that render the family firm more reliant on and subjected to family influence. Similarly, informal institutions like the fear of failure in foreign markets and uncertainty avoidance often make the family firm more dependent on, and accepting of, family influence.Originality/valueThe path analysis undertaken in this study has empirically depicted how resource-related and institution-based forces can together augment the effects of “family influence,” making it a more powerful and prohibitive factor in the internationalization decision, thus offering an insightful interpretation of these results and valuable practical and theoretical implications.

EU climate progress will be most clear in renewables

Significance Although the exact details of the package remain subject to clarification and amendment, it requires a much broader decarbonisation effort beyond the power sector, as well as public-sector financial commitments to higher-risk energy transition technologies such as hydrogen and carbon capture and storage. Impacts Increased renewable energy capacity and wider electrification will highlight lagging investment in electricity grid infrastructure. Enhanced offshore wind targets and European developers’ desire to enter foreign markets will stretch offshore wind supply chains. Although increasingly contentious, the role of gas is likely to become more important in terms of European security of energy supply.

Multilingualism as International Marketing Strategy

Market globalization has made multilingual marketing communications a sine qua none for most transnational businesses. Exploring new foreign markets has thus meant translating and localizing marketing communications, so as to enable foreign consumers to have the kind of experience that may spur them into being favorable to the products or services on promotion. Conscious of this imperative, many Nigerian companies have embarked on multilingual packaging as a key component of their international marketing strategies. Although such a language-based tactic has enormous potential, Nigerian companies' use of multilingual packaging is confronted to a multitude of problems. This chapter explores four of such problems, including mis-translations (of packages), partial translation, typographic and design errors, and companies' adherence to the myth stating that English is the language of business. To address these challenges, the chapter recommends non or reduced reliance on automatic translation and resorting to the services of a professional translator, “transcreators,” and experienced marketers.

Branding Through Online Social Networks

The hurdles to entering a foreign market have been dismantled by greater internet connectivity. As a result, there is virtually endless potential to expand a company abroad. In growing abroad, it's crucial to keep the brand at the forefront of the approach. When enterprises enter foreign markets, they confront several problems such as a lack of market intelligence, buyer expectations, severe rivalry from global brands, and a lack of trending awareness. Most exporters focus on the short product-focused and sales-driven methods, such as producing that which is simple to create, finding a contract, fulfilling the request, and closing sales. This method just forces an exporter into a pricing competition in a globalized world, leaving the limited possibility to continuous production, product innovation, and credibility. Every company that wishes to export should aim towards market-driven, long-term, and sustainable exporting.

The availability of organizational resources and the degree of internationalization of furniture companies - the empirical research findings

The availability of organizational resources and the degree of internationalization of furniture companies - the empirical research findings. The article presents the results of empirical research carried out in 100 medium and large furniture companies. The availability of organizational resources was assessed in the group of furniture manufacturers using the Likert scale. The respondents indicated that the highest availability, taking into account the average score for all surveyed companies, was obtained in the case of financial and material resources. It should be emphasized, however, that the remaining categories of resources were also characterized by a relatively high level of availability. The differences were noticed in the groups of enterprises considering the degree of internationalization. The highest availability of all resources was indicated by respondents from companies operating mainly in foreign markets. Moreover, the relationship between the level of availability of organizational resources and the degree of internationalization of the surveyed enterprises was checked. For this purpose, the Spearman's rho correlation coefficient was used. Such a relationship was confirmed in the case of human resources and information resources. The research shows that higher availability of the indicated resources occurs in enterprises showing a greater degree of involvement in foreign activities.

COVID‐19 Pandemic Impact on the Exports and Imports

This paper’s objectives are the following: describing the impact of the COVID 19 crisis on the mechanism of export-import operations; the evolution of Romania’s export-import activities during 2020-2021 and identifying some recommendations meant to help companies fight the sanitary crisis’ effects. The study is based on a theoretical research investigating the impact of the sanitary crisis on the management of an export-import operation. Due to disruptions in global supply chains, the companies operating in the field of international trade had to redefine their operating strategies for the foreign markets. The magnitude of these changes related to the transactional mechanism specific to export-import activities will lead to profound mutations in the global supply chain, with benefits in term of resilience in all phases of the supply chain.

Financially-legal regulation of basic public debt management in the conditions of coronavirus pandemic

This article is devoted to the consideration of some issues related to the legal regulation of the main methods of public debt management in Russia in the context of the coronavirus pandemic. In the course of the study, the features of the external and internal debt of the Russian Federation are highlighted, various approaches to the definition of this category are considered, and some aspects of legal regulation in this area are analyzed. It is determined that the norms of financial law regulate a whole and diverse set of public relations related to the implementation of borrowing both in the domestic and foreign markets, and it is necessary to comprehensively regulate this institution. In conclusion, it is concluded that the coronavirus pandemic has greatly affected all aspects of financial activity, the state had to resort to additional borrowing on the domestic market to eliminate the consequences of the pandemic. Based on this, we need a well-thought-out strategy for the development of legislation in this area at all levels of the budget system of the Russian Federation.

INNOVATIVE ACTIVITY IN THE SYSTEM OF FOREIGN ECONOMIC SECURITY OF THE COUNTRY

Background. One of the main indicators of the country's economic development is its trade balance, in particular the total size and value of products that the country can adequately represent in foreign markets, ensuring reliable cash flow, balanced development of economic sectors, and, consequently, growing greatness and prosperity. In modern conditions, ensuring such a global export expansion of Ukrainian products to foreign markets, in particular European ones, is impossible without proper innovation of producers and exporters, as well as sufficient investment in planned innovation projects, which requires in-depth economic analysis and strategy in this direction. Using the latest scientific inventions and research. The aim of the article is to study and analyze the current state of Ukrainian exports to world and European markets and substantiate the possibility of differentiation of export flows in order to evenly distribute the share of exports between all industries, including engineering and high technology, etc. and move away from raw materials Materials and methods. The theoretical and methodological basis of the article is the scientific works of Ukrainian and foreign scientists on the problems of innovation development. Results. As we can see from the researched data, during the last decade there is a tendency of prevalence in the general structure of the country's exports of ferrous metallurgy and mining, which is primarily due to the strong potential of these industries inherited from Soviet times, as well as agro-industrial products. in particular, cereals and oils, which is explained by the tradition of these industries for the economy of Ukraine, and established under the Association Agreement tariff quotas for Ukrainian agricultural products in the markets of the European Union. Revolutionary tasks have been set to reduce the share in the structure of exports of these types of goods first to the critical limit of 10%, and then to the target of 5%, while maintaining and even increasing the absolute monetary value of exports of these goods, which is possible only if increasing exports by other product groups, identifying priority areas among such products while legislative incentives and creating a regulatory environment to strengthen the ability of domestic enterprises to compete in world markets, especially in the face of growing protectionism in response to the challenges of the pandemic. Conclusion. Summing up, we can conclude that Ukraine has created all the prerequisites for the implementation and implementation of all short-term and strategic plans for the domestic economy and a worthy place among participants in both European and global markets, subject to improving the scientific and educational system of industrial development, wider implementation of innovation processes, as well as the implementation of plans to diversify export flows.

International Experts’ Influence on Company Internationalization

Purpose: The article evaluates the associative relationship between international supervisory board experts and foreign ownership, along with the experts’ influence on the financial and operating performance of firms. The study was based on data collected for 257 companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange in 2010–2015. Methodology: The dataset was built as a panel, and then generalized least squares regression models with a fixed or random effect were employed to test hypotheses. Findings: The findings of the study clearly show that the presence of investigated firms in foreign markets positively affects company performance. Moreover, models with dependent variables ROA and ROS show that supervisory board members with foreign experience positively affect profitability indicators of firms that do not operate on foreign markets. The data analyses reveal that international experts are more effective advisors for companies that conduct no business activities on foreign markets. Furthermore, the results show a positive moderate association between the share of international experts in supervisory boards and the share of foreign ownership in the company. Originality: The article contributes to the understanding of determinants and consequences of the presence of international experts in supervisory boards and company internationalization.