Signalling entrepreneurs’ credibility and project quality for crowdfunding success: cases from the Kickstarter and Indiegogo environments

In recent years, entrepreneurs have increasingly turned to crowdfunding, a new form of entrepreneurial finance, to fund projects. Whilst research has shown that signals originating fromthe entrepreneur and project can affect the outcome of crowdfunding, how different signals work together under different signalling environments remains underexplored. Drawing on signalling theory, we examine how signals of entrepreneurs’ credibility (success, failure, backer and industry experience) and project quality (preparedness and thirdparty endorsements) produce crowdfunding success in different signalling environments. We collected a unique dataset with matched projects listed on both Kickstarter and Indiegogo, but with different funding models, to represent two distinct signalling environments. Results based on qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) identify two distinct signalling patterns that show entrepreneur’s credibility and project quality signals can complement each other to produce crowdfunding success. In an environment with less uncertainty, entrepreneur’s credibility in terms of crowdfunding experience can also compensate absent project quality to produce crowdfunding success. In an environment with higher uncertainty, entrepreneur’s credibility and project quality need to be both present to establish the necessary legitimacy for crowdfunding to be successful. Furthermore, by integrating positive (i.e. success) and negative (i.e. failure) signals, we demonstrate how signal incongruence can enhance crowdfunding success

A Trade Secrets Framework and Strategic Approaches

Trade secrets are key assets for innovative, successful, companies. Compared to other intellectual property (IP), trade secrets require different approaches to protect and embed them into company innovation strategies. Previous literature has not, however, provided a comprehensive evaluation of the strategic approaches towards trade secrets. This paper benefits from a systematic literature review (SLR) method to examine trade secrecy approaches with a theoretical lens using both dynamic capabilities (DC) and resource based view (RBV) approaches. Fifty articles are carefully selected and examined to build a ‘strategic directions and approaches’ framework for companies to protect and benefit from their trade secrets. This study therefore offers both academic and practical value by identifying a dynamic, structured, view of available trade secrecy approaches, the foundations for a unified trade secrecy framework, and a future research agenda

Strategies and Process of Trade Secret Misappropriation Mitigation: The Case of UK

Trade Secrets (TS) are vital for innovation‐driven companies, and their loss can inflict significant financial and reputational damage, particularly in the absence of established policies to mitigate misappropriation in the UK. The current academic literature lacks detailed strategies for firms to effectively address these threats. This paper aims to bridge the research gap by conducting interviews with industry professionals and analyzing UK legal cases related to TS misappropriation. By integrating findings within the Dynamic Capabilities (DC) theoretical framework, we develop a more comprehensive approach to mitigating TS misappropriation, thereby enhancing the detail and relevance of DC approaches in the TS context. This research, therefore, not only offers practical strategies for companies in the UK to prevent future breaches but also advances academic understanding of the process of TS misappropriation‐mitigation and outlines potential directions for further inquiry in this area

Exploring South Korean Foreign Direct Investment Motives and State-Level Location Decisions: US Evidence 1995-2008

This study uses a novel application of panel fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) in the International Management field. Specifically, using a unique database that captures sub-industrial Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), as well as its location, we explain location decisions of high-technology South Korean (henceforth Korean) Multinational Enterprises (MNEs), when first entering the USA, in the period from 1995 up until the 2008 financial crisis. A variety of home country conditions, combined with a desire for technological upgrading, encouraged firms to seek locational advantages. Additionally, regional characteristics, rather than FDI being for a single purpose over time, allow a typology of reasons for Korean FDI to be developed. We show evolving trends of Korean FDI in the US with home country and regional perspectives interacting to attract FDI into US states with different characteristics and argue this is consistent with US policy which seeks to attract inward investment to foster economic development