Geographical Distance

This doctoral dissertation focuses on the internationalisation strategies of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the United Arab Emirates market, specifically determinants and moderators of foreign market entry mode choice and their corresponding performance. We pay particular attention to types of competitive advantage, firm capabilities and their network ties, as well as the cultural, psychic, institutional, administrative, economic and geographic distance dimensions between a firm’s home and host country. The determinants and moderators regarding the choice of foreign market entry mode and firm performance are also presented in the proposed conceptual model. Research and analytical results are presented in the empirical section, which are also discussed in the conclusion.

Key words: competitive advantage, firm capabilities, network ties, market entry mode, firm performance, cultural distance, psychic distance, geographic distance, host country characteristics

Recent studies have indicated that the internationalization process of software SMEs is somewhat independent on the effect of psychic or geographic distance. However, these studies have analyzed the general pattern of entries where software SMEs not commonly follow a step-wise entry route from nearby countries to distant ones. Thus, it remains unknown what the effect of psychic and geographical distance is when these firms enter a distant foreign market. The findings in this case study reveal that psychic and geographic distance inhibited the foreign market entry of software SMEs. However, the distant foreign market entry of these firms was facilitated by distance-bridging and distance-compressing factors enabling foreign business operations despite the significant distance between the home and target country.

Using a representative national sample of personal networks, this article explores how the spatial dispersion of networks, residential mobility and social support are linked. Three issues will be addressed here. Firstly, how is the spatial dispersion of personal networks related to individuals’ social characteristics, network composition and residential mobility? Secondly, how do the spatial dispersion of networks, residential mobility and their combined effect influence the number and (thirdly) the structure of emotional support ties? Results showed that the extent of the support was affected neither by the geographical distribution of the networks nor by residential mobility. Living far from one's birthplace, however, exerted two distinct, and opposite effects on the support network structure. On the one hand, mobility led to high spatial dispersion of personal contacts, which in turn favored a sparsely knit network centered around the mobile individual. On the other hand, by controlling for the effect of distance between the contacts, we found that individuals that cited long-distance ties tended to be part of more transitive support networks than those that cited local ties. We interpreted the latter effect as evidence that transitive ties may survive greater spatial distances than intransitive ones. These findings are discussed in view of spatial mobility and social network research.► Residential mobility increases spatial dispersion of personal networks. ► Degree of personal support is not affected by network spatial dispersion. ► Residential mobility exerted two opposite effects on support network structure. ► Distance between personal contacts fosters sparsely knit and centralized networks. ► Distance from the mobile individual and personal contacts fosters transitive networks.

The rise in the number of Pakistanis working abroad has created an important source of monetary flows for the country. In Pakistan, the remittances are one of the major sources of foreign exchange earnings. One of the determinants of remittances is the geographical distance between the home country and the country where Pakistanis are working. In this paper, we inquire whether the geographical distance between two countries affects two-sided remittances by using panel data of 23 major destinations from 2001 to 2017. We find that there is a significant impact of geographical distance on remittances that Pakistan receives. The positive and significant coefficient between remittance and geographical distance confirms that Pakistani migrants who are working in far locations remit more JEL Classification: F22; F24; C23; O53

This paper investigates the influence of cultural distance, geographical distance, and three market size variables to the target country preference of SMEs in the software industry. In addition, we examine the shift of priorities in SMEs’ country selection by analyzing how these factors impact the selection of the first, second, and third target countries. Empirical findings of this study suggest that almost 70% of country choices can be explained by software market size and geographical distance alone. The findings adduced also that entry priority of SMEs shifts very fast from countries within a short geographical distance to countries with high purchasing power and within a greater geographical distance. Relations of these macro-level factors are discussed and compared to earlier qualitative and conceptual studies in this field. Implications for managers are also provided.

In this paper, the evolution of infrastructure networks is modelled as a preferential attachment process. It is assumed that geographical distance and country borders provide barriers to link formation in infrastructure networks. The model is validated against empirical data on the European Internet infrastructure network covering 209 cities. The average path length and average clustering coefficient of the observed network are successfully simulated. Furthermore, the simulated network shows a significant correlation with the observed European Internet infrastructure network. The paper ends with a discussion on the future uses of preferential attachment models in the light of the literature on world cities and global cities.

Purpose − This paper investigates market entry decisions of the U.S. software SMEs by analyzing the impact of the most obvious factors (cultural distance, geographical distance, country risk, and three market size variables) in traditional internationalization theories to target country selection. By investigating the influence of these commonly cited macro-level factors, this study proposes the best indicator for market entry decisions of the U.S. small and medium-sized software firms.

Design/methodology/approach − This study uses quantitative research approach applied on a sample of 100 U.S. small and medium-sized software firms.

Findings − Empirical findings in this study indicate that vertical (software) market size in a target country is the best single indicator for market entry decision, explaining alone 63% of market entries. Thus, the findings in this study suggest that the vertical market size gives a better explanation for market entry decisions of software SMEs than the earlier widely used variables.

Research implications − Integrating earlier findings related to firm-level factors with findings of macro-level factors will help theory development and will facilitate obtaining a more holistic view of internationalization of knowledge-intensive SMEs.

Practical implications − Findings in this study imply that managers should take an active role when they develop network relationships for the market entry. If a firm takes a passive role in networking, it might lose market opportunities available in the leading markets and end up in countries where the real market potential is low.

Originality/value − This paper highlights vertical market size, which has been largely ignored in earlier studies, as the most important indicator for international market entry decision.

Abstract.  1. The importance of dispersal capacity in structuring beta-diversity gradients has been pointed out in a number of recent studies, making geographical distance (GD) an important predictor of the composition of assemblages apart from environment. In this study, we analyse the relative importance of climate, habitat complexity and GD in four spider families with different dispersal tendencies in the centre of the Iberian Peninsula.2. Regional beta-diversity was calculated for the four families and values were bootstrapped to test for significant difference between groups. Mantel tests assessed the explanatory capacity of four potential predictors – climatic similarity, similarity of vegetation complexity, GD and cost distance (CD) considering topography – on faunistic similarity. Simple regressions were used to compare decay rates, and bootstrapping tested for significant differences in coefficients.3. Regional beta-diversity values were higher in less vagile families. Climatic distance was strongly correlated with faunistic dissimilarity in the four families, whereas GD had no explanatory power. Except in one family, CD was correlated with faunistic dissimilarity but its independent association was negligible when controlling for climate.4. Both the pattern of regional beta-diversity among families and the pattern of variation in species composition explained by climate are consistent with the hypothesis that dispersion capacity influences the composition of the assemblages. However, climate distance was the main factor determining species sorting in space while GD had a weak effect. Differences in the degree of specialisation or nonlinear relationships between species composition and space may obscure the signal of GD at the scale of work.

The effect of geographical distance on the extent of socioeconomic impacts of the Dukovany nuclear power plant in the Czech Republic is assessed by combining two different research approaches. First, we survey how people living in municipalities in the vicinity of the power plant perceive impacts on their personal quality of life. Second, we explore the effects of the power plant on regional development by analysing long-term statistical data about the unemployment rate, the share of workers in the energy sector and overall job opportunities in the respective municipalities. The results indicate that the power plant has had significant positive impacts on surrounding communities both as perceived by residents and as evidenced by the statistical data. The level of impacts is, however, significantly influenced by the spatial and social distances of communities and individuals from the power plant. The perception of positive impacts correlates with geographical proximity to the power plant, while the hypothetical distance where positive effects on the quality of life are no longer perceived was estimated at about 15 km. Positive effects are also more likely to be reported by highly educated, young and middle-aged and economically active persons, whose work is connected to the power plant.

Abstract.  1. The importance of dispersal capacity in structuring beta-diversity gradients has been pointed out in a number of recent studies, making geographical distance (GD) an important predictor of the composition of assemblages apart from environment. In this study, we analyse the relative importance of climate, habitat complexity and GD in four spider families with different dispersal tendencies in the centre of the Iberian Peninsula.2. Regional beta-diversity was calculated for the four families and values were bootstrapped to test for significant difference between groups. Mantel tests assessed the explanatory capacity of four potential predictors – climatic similarity, similarity of vegetation complexity, GD and cost distance (CD) considering topography – on faunistic similarity. Simple regressions were used to compare decay rates, and bootstrapping tested for significant differences in coefficients.3. Regional beta-diversity values were higher in less vagile families. Climatic distance was strongly correlated with faunistic dissimilarity in the four families, whereas GD had no explanatory power. Except in one family, CD was correlated with faunistic dissimilarity but its independent association was negligible when controlling for climate.4. Both the pattern of regional beta-diversity among families and the pattern of variation in species composition explained by climate are consistent with the hypothesis that dispersion capacity influences the composition of the assemblages. However, climate distance was the main factor determining species sorting in space while GD had a weak effect. Differences in the degree of specialisation or nonlinear relationships between species composition and space may obscure the signal of GD at the scale of work.

Over the last decade or so, multinational enterprises (MNEs) have shifted from centralised hub structures to multi-hub structures. While these new structures provide greater potential for crossfertilization of technologies and access to location-specific competences, promoting effective knowledge transfer within an MNE – especially in their R&D activities - presents significant managerial challenges. Using evidence collected on the R&D activities of