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The global market for cloud gaming is growing rapidly. How gamers evaluate the service quality of this emerging form of cloud service has become a critical issue for both researchers and practitioners. Building on the literature on service quality and software as a service, this study develops and validates a gamer-centric measurement instrument for cloud gaming service quality.

A three-step measurement instrument development process, including item generation, scale development and instrument testing, was adopted to conceptualize and operationalize cloud gaming service quality.

Cloud gaming service quality consists of two second-order constructs of support service quality and technical service quality with seven first-order dimensions, namely rapport, responsiveness, reliability, compatibility, ubiquity, smoothness and comprehensiveness. The instrument exhibits desirable psychometric properties.

Practitioners can use this new measurement instrument to evaluate gamers' perceptions toward their service and to identify areas for improvement.

This study contributes to the service quality literature by utilizing qualitative and quantitative approaches to develop and validate a new measurement instrument of service quality in the context of cloud gaming and by identifying new dimensions (compatibility, ubiquity, smoothness and comprehensiveness) specific to it.

Drawing on the resource-based view and institutional theory, this study explores how firms select export channels to realise the value of their product development capabilities (PDC) and improve export performance by aligning PDC, entrepreneurial orientation (EO), cultural-cognitive institutional distance (CCID) and channel selection.

This study adopted a quantitative design and used data collected from multiple respondents in 294 Chinese exporting ventures. Hypotheses were tested using logistic regression analysis and multiple regression analysis.

The results of the study suggest that PDC plays a vital role in export channel decisions. The results also show that there is a three-way interaction between PDC, EO and CCID regarding export channel selection. More importantly, this study suggests that firms using export channels that align with PDC, contingent on EO and CCID, generate superior export performance.

This study extends the export channel literature by looking at the different roles of important organisational capabilities (i.e. PDC and EO) on export channel selection. Further, it shows that firms need to align the exploitation of their PDC with the export channel selection, along with EO capabilities, and CCID to achieve better performance in the export market.

This paper aims to provide a transaction cost analysis (TCA) perspective to exporting firms' selection of foreign markets and the performance consequences of this international market selection (IMS) decision. This paper proposes a conceptual framework that hypothesizes the relationship between transaction cost factors, IMS and export performance.

This paper tests the proposed framework with a database of Chinese manufacturing firms using regression models and controlling for possible endogeneity. The endogeneity issue may arise due to IMS being influenced by unobserved industrial/firm attributes.

The results show that transaction cost factors are able to explain IMS. Furthermore, firms whose decisions have incorporated transaction cost factors perform significantly better than their rivals.

Understanding transaction costs helps decision-makers formulate more efficient IMS strategy to achieve superior export performance. Future research on IMS may examine “passive exporting”, i.e. exporting initiated by overseas buyers, consider the role of institutional distance and use other approaches toward cultural distance-based IMS.

This study adds a new theoretical underpinning for IMS by developing a framework based on TCA, and thus broadens the applications of TCA into IMS. Our empirical results support this extension.

Market orientation (MO) has been shown to provide a valuable resource-based advantage in domestic markets. How internationalizing firms from emerging markets can benefit from this capability is more complex while facing institutional distance. The purpose of this paper is to develop and test a theory to suggest that although MO capabilities can enhance export performance, the structure where they are deployed, namely the export channel a firm uses and the market in terms of institutional distance from home, can affect the benefits derived from MO.

With a sample of Chinese exporters and data collected via questionnaire survey, this research uses a multiple regression model to test the hypotheses.

It finds that firms with stronger MO capabilities can improve export performance by using hierarchical channels and by exporting to more institutionally distant markets where MO provides greater value.

This research claims to make several important contributions to the literature by providing a better understanding of how firms can successfully deploy MO capabilities when exporting.

The purpose of this paper is to synthesize and evaluate recent studies on determinants of export performance.

Using a vote-counting technique this paper reviews 124 papers published between 2006 and 2014 to assess the determinants of export performance.

The results indicate that significant progress has been made during these nine years and that: numerous new determinants are identified, data quality and statistical biases have received considerable attention, and interaction and indirect relationships are considered. However, at the same time, the research of export performance is still limited by a lack of synthetic theoretical basis, inconsistent empirical test results, and insufficiency in the research framework and statistical methodologies.

Export performance has received increasing attention over recent decades, but the area is still characterized by fragmentation and diversity hindering theoretical and practical development. This paper integrates the findings of recent studies on export performance and provides further discussion from both theoretical and methodological aspects, and points out the directions for future research.

Drawing on the resource-based view and network theory, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of external networks (ENs) and absorptive capacity (AC) in export market location decision of emerging economy firms (EEFs) and the performance implication of this decision.

This study employs structural equation modeling to test three hypotheses: first, ENs influence an EEF manager's propensity to enter culturally/psychically distant markets for exports. Distant markets are more likely to be chosen by managers of firms with abundant ENs. Second, AC moderates this network-market location relationship. Third, superior performance results from the fit between managers’ propensity to enter a market and firms’ levels of ENs and AC.

An analysis of 196 Chinese exporting firms supports the hypotheses.

Though the theoretical discussion is general, the empirical context is specific to Chinese export manufacturers. Replicating the study is necessary in different contexts.

The study identifies to managers the importance of external (i.e. ENs) and internal resources and capabilities (i.e. AC) and linkages between resources and capabilities, strategy and performance.

The study is novel in conceptually addressing the role of ENs and AC in firms’ decision making and performance and in testing hypotheses with robust methodology and data.

Because of the complexity of technological innovation and the dynamics of the technological environment, it is impossible for a single firm to have all knowledge needed for technological innovation, making it essential for firms to conduct cross-border knowledge search and integration. However, it is very difficult for firms to acquire and assimilate cross-border knowledge. The purpose of this paper is to explore how an open innovation platform (OIP) helps firms to effectively search and integrate cross-border knowledge, and to understand the key roles that OIP plays during the cross-border knowledge search and integration processes.

This paper takes the case analysis method, which provides a comprehensively understanding on the complex process of cross-border knowledge search and integration as well as the internal mechanism. Drawing on the research paradigm of Eisenhardt (1989), Bakker and Akkerman (2014), this paper analyzes and verifies the mechanism of OIP cross-border knowledge search and integration based on extensive interviews.

First, this paper analyzes the process of cross-border knowledge search and integration through Haier open partnership ecosystem (HOPE), which is theoretically divided into three stages, including motivation formation, cross-border knowledge search and integration. These three stages have been further decomposed into the following seven steps: demands discovery, problems definition, problems decomposition, resource search, resource evaluation, technology redevelopment and test. In addition, this study investigates the manifestation of interrelationships among these stages and steps, depicting the pathways through which HOPE facilitates the firm’s cross-border knowledge search and integration. The conclusions indicate that OIP timely discovers the consumer demands during the motivation formation stage, effectively decomposes problems and find related technology resources during the search stage and improves the efficacy of integration stage.

This study reveals the mechanism of OIP cross-border knowledge search and integration and draws some valuable conclusions, which contribute to the literature on cross-border knowledge search, enrich the research on problem-solving and also propose a new perspective to study the roles of OIP on innovation. However, there are still some limitations. First, this study is built on a single platform (HOPE), further studies may focus on more platforms to ensure the conclusions of this paper. Second, this study conducts data analysis using a simple encoding analysis, so it is possible that some critical information is emitted while collating and analyzing data. Meanwhile, for the research methods, qualitative and quantitative methods can be combined to analyze related issues, then the correlation and corresponding mechanism can be incorporated into the same framework to further verify the conclusions and generalize the results.

This paper theoretically analyzes how and why HOPE helps firms search and integrate cross-border knowledge. It provides not only a reference for OIP but also a proven and effective way for companies’ acquiring and integrating cross-border knowledge. Then it will further improve firms’ innovative abilities, especially disruptive innovation abilities.

Technological innovation, especially disruptive innovation is not only a driving force of firms’ sustainable development but also a vital driver of national development. This paper clarified that OIP can help firms conduct successful disruptive innovation through cross-border knowledge search and integration, which will further increase national innovative competence and improve social welfare.

This paper extends the literature on the process of cross-border knowledge search and integration, as well as the roles of OIP. From a managerial standpoint, the conclusions have practical implications for firms to successfully acquire and integrate cross-border knowledge.