Rudy Martens

• PhD Applied Economics (strategic management)
• Head of Faculty at University of Antwerp

Purpose Few high-growth firms (HGFs) are able to maintain high-growth over time. The purpose of this paper is to find out why only a small number of firms become persistent HGFs, explicitly focusing on the role of the founding entrepreneur in this process. Design/methodology/approach Initially, 28 semi-structured interviews were performed with hig...

Technological innovation is seen to be critical for an organisation's competitiveness and its success. This study focuses on technological innovation, which comprises the introduction and implementation of new or improved products, services and production processes, at the firm level. The study examines the impact of top management team advice seek...

This paper analyses the persistence of high business growth and the robustness of the profile characteristics of high-growth firms (HGFs). By having company information for all firms that are active in Flanders (i.e., the northern part of Belgium) for a ten-year period (i.e., from 2000 to 2009), different subsets of HGFs were identified for differe...

In the current business environment IT outsourcing has gained prominence. Many firms in Europe outsource their IT requirements to Asia. This study analyzes the factors which favor this trend in which clients are based in Europe and vendors are based in Asia. From a strategic perspective, this study identifies the characteristics that IT activities...

This study examines the influence of cultural values on the partnership performance of outsourced projects. A survey of information technology outsourced projects of five countries in Europe on the client side and four countries in Asia on the vendor side, indicates that the cultural values of the vendors and the clients influence the partnership p...

The aim of this paper is to identify which managerial practices are required to achieve perceived fairness. The paper is based on a literature review and a dyadic case study on an innovative development project. The analysis shows how perceived fairness can be stimulated by managerial practices. It emphasizes the importance of attending to the mult...

Recently, academics have attributed a large part of alliance success to a firm's ability to successfully manage its alliances, also called its level of alliance management capability. We contribute to this growing body of literature by (1) verifying the impact of alliance management capability on alliance performance and (2) analyzing the drivers o...

This paper has a threefold purpose. First, we offer a literature review on alliance capability based on strategic and competence-based management literature. Second, we extend existing literature on alliance capability by breaking this concept down into five subcapabilities, each of which is linked to a stage of the alliance life cycle. Finally, we...

This paper has a threefold purpose. First, we offer a literature review on alliance capability based on strategic and competence based management literature. Second, we extend existing literature on alliance capability by breaking this concept down into five sub capabilities, which are each linked to a stage of the alliance life cycle. Finally, we...

The majority of entrepreneurship researchers usually studies entrepreneurship in terms of new venture creation (Amaral and Baptista, 2007), whereas it is just as important to ensure that existing ventures continue to exist and prosper. Since most baby boom entrepreneurs are reaching the retirement age in the coming years (Berck, 2006; Gale and Scho...

Innovation competence has become an essential requirement for technology-based organizations to survive in the new economy. Commitment to long-term objectives and learning are considered as indispensable for building innovation competence. Communication networks play a crucial role in both these aspects. In this context management faces the questio...

The vulnerability of capabilities – their susceptibility to depreciation of their strategic value – results from an unbalance between exploitation and exploration within a capability as well as between different levels of capabilities. This vulnerability is examined under the lens of bounded awareness in which the issues of timing, success, and bel...

Despite the many contingency studies that investigated how perceived environmental uncertainty (PEU) and strategy relate to the level of planning sophistication, this relationship remains unclear. To gain a better insight into this relationship in SMEs, we investigate the interactive effect of PEU and strategy on short-term planning sophistication,...

In this article, we build a conceptual framework that models the influence of social capital as a multidimensional concept on strategic resource acquisition through interorganizational networks. Interorganizational networks are considered as effective when they allow for the acquisition of strategicresources. Our conceptual framework reflects that...

This article analyzes the impact of not controlling for "demographic sample" differences on research results in the area of comparative family/nonfamily business research. Using different statistical methods with and without control for "demographic sample" differences, the results show that controlling for these firm demographics in a bivariate as...

This paper reports on a case study research regarding the development of capabilities from a multidimensional social capital perspective. Case study research together with a multi-disciplinary literature study are the platform for further theory development on the related questions: “How do organisations build capabilities?” and “What are the antec...

This article presents a bivariate comparison of Flemish family and non-family firms, investigating differences with respect to CEO characteristics, strategy, management information systems, environment, financing issues, performance and growth. Several authors have indicated that observed differences between family and non-family firms in empirical...

In this paper, we build a conceptual framework that models the influence of trust on strategic resource acquisition. The main focus is on the role of trust in interorganisational networks and how trust in interorganisational networks can accelerate the acquisition of strategic resources. Based on the network literature, social capital literature an...

Family businesses differ from traditional businesses in that they are owned or controlled by family members. Because of the potential for family member’s influence, family businesses face many unique and complex problems (Davis & Stern, 1980, Handler, 1989). However since the investigation of the connection between family involvement and organizati...

The aim of this research is to deepen the understanding of the concept of company growth. With ‘sales growth’ used as an operational measure, and in contrast with growth models offered by e.g. Greiner (1972/98) and Churchill & Lewis (1983), this study reveals a number of motives, enablers and consequences of growth. The empirical part investigates...

Our research group examined strategic investment processes in 50 large companies and banks located in Belgium, over a 2-year period (1992-94). This article reports one fundamental part of the research: the impact of formal analysis on strategic investment processes. Findings covering this theme concern the effect of uncertainty on the act of formal...