IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/rdg/emxxdp/em-dp2008-68.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Culture and the Survival of UK Independent Games Software Firms

Author

Listed:
  • Denise Tsang

    (School of Management, University of Reading)

Abstract

This paper reports on qualitative research that investigates the culture of survival among entrepreneurial UK games software development firms within the interactive entertainment industry. The survival culture depicts a culture where firms strive for cost efficiency in order to maximize their chance of continued operation. In-depth interviews with 12 managers illustrated a framework for understanding the cost advantages of surviving firms. It was found it was based on focusing on human relations, building critical inter-firm relationships and acknowledging the importance of cash flow, which were in turn supported by innovative product orientation. The analysis highlights that competitiveness within the interactive entertainment industry could be attained within market constraint and pressure.

Suggested Citation

  • Denise Tsang, 2008. "Culture and the Survival of UK Independent Games Software Firms," Economics Discussion Papers em-dp2008-68, Department of Economics, University of Reading.
    • Handle: RePEc:rdg:emxxdp:em-dp2008-68
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.henley.reading.ac.uk/nmsruntime/saveasdialog.asp?lID=32978&sID=119847
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Georgios Fotopoulos & Helen Louri, 2000. "Determinants of Hazard Confronting New Entry: Does Financial Structure Matter?," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 17(3), pages 285-300, November.
    2. Ouchi, William, 1981. "Theory Z: How American business can meet the Japanese challenge," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 24(6), pages 82-83.
    3. Luigi Zingales, "undated". "Survival of the Fittest or the Fattest? Exit and Financing in the Trucking Industry," CRSP working papers 336, Center for Research in Security Prices, Graduate School of Business, University of Chicago.
    4. repec:bla:jfinan:v:53:y:1998:i:3:p:905-938 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Graeme Salaman & John Storey, 2002. "Managers’ Theories About the Process of Innovation," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(2), pages 147-165, March.
    6. Robert E. Quinn & John Rohrbaugh, 1983. "A Spatial Model of Effectiveness Criteria: Towards a Competing Values Approach to Organizational Analysis," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 29(3), pages 363-377, March.
    7. Philip Bunn & Victoria Redwood, 2003. "Company accounts based modelling of business failures and the implications for financial stability," Bank of England working papers 210, Bank of England.
    8. Janvier D. Nkurunziza, 2005. "Credit Can Precipitate Firm Failure: Evidence from Kenyan Manufacturing in the 1990s," Economics Series Working Papers WPS/2005-04, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    9. Janvier D. Nkurunziza, 2005. "Credit Can Precipitate Firm Failure: Evidence from Kenyan Manufacturing in the 1990s," CSAE Working Paper Series 2005-04, Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lidia Mannarino & Marianna Succurro, 2013. "The Impact Of Financial Structure On Firms’ Probability Of Bankruptcy: A Comparison Across Western Europe Convergence Regions," Working Papers 201305, Università della Calabria, Dipartimento di Economia, Statistica e Finanza "Giovanni Anania" - DESF.
    2. Marianna SUCCURRO & Lidia MANNARINO, 2014. "The Impact Of Financial Structure On Firms’ Probability Of Bankruptcy: A Comparison Across Western Europe Convergence Regions," Regional and Sectoral Economic Studies, Euro-American Association of Economic Development, vol. 14(1), pages 81-94.
    3. Spaliara, Marina-Eliza & Tsoukas, Serafeim, 2013. "What matters for corporate failures in Asia? Exploring the role of firm-specific characteristics during the Asian crisis," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 83-96.
    4. Anna Maria Ferragina & Fernanda Mazzotta & Erol Taymaz & Kamil Yilmaz, 2013. "The Impact Of Fdi On Firm Survival And Employment: A Comparative Analysis For Turkey And Italy," ERSA conference papers ersa13p1211, European Regional Science Association.
    5. Sarah Bridges & Alessandra Guariglia, 2008. "Financial Constraints, Global Engagement, And Firm Survival In The United Kingdom: Evidence From Micro Data," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 55(4), pages 444-464, September.
    6. Pittiglio, Rosanna, 2024. "Counterfeiting and firm survival. Evidence from the Italian manufacturing industry," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 48(2).
    7. Holger Görg & Marina-Eliza Spaliara, 2014. "Financial Health, Exports and Firm Survival: Evidence from UK and French Firms," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 81(323), pages 419-444, July.
    8. M. A. Lagesh & Maram Srikanth & Debashis Acharya, 2018. "Corporate Performance during Business Cycles: Evidence from Indian Manufacturing Firms," Global Business Review, International Management Institute, vol. 19(5), pages 1261-1274, October.
    9. Farinha, Luísa & Spaliara, Marina-Eliza & Tsoukas, Serafeim, 2019. "Bank shocks and firm performance: New evidence from the sovereign debt crisis," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 40(C).
    10. Huynh, Kim P. & Petrunia, Robert J. & Voia, Marcel, 2012. "Duration of new firms: The role of startup financial conditions, industry and aggregate factors," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 23(4), pages 354-362.
    11. Bortolotti, Thomas & Boscari, Stefania & Danese, Pamela, 2015. "Successful lean implementation: Organizational culture and soft lean practices," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 160(C), pages 182-201.
    12. Anna Maria Ferragina & Fernanda Mazzotta, 2014. "Agglomeration economies and global activities: impact on firm survival," ERSA conference papers ersa14p348, European Regional Science Association.
    13. Joseph P. Byrne & Marina-Eliza Spaliara & Serafeim Tsoukas, 2016. "Firm Survival, Uncertainty, And Financial Frictions: Is There A Financial Uncertainty Accelerator?," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 54(1), pages 375-390, January.
    14. Yuji Honjo & Masatoshi Kato, 2019. "Do initial financial conditions determine the exit routes of start-up firms?," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 29(3), pages 1119-1147, July.
    15. Tsoukas, Serafeim, 2011. "Firm survival and financial development: Evidence from a panel of emerging Asian economies," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(7), pages 1736-1752, July.
    16. Anna Ferragina & Fernanda Mazzotta, 2015. "Agglomeration economies in Italy: impact on heterogeneous firms’ exit in a multilevel framework," Economia e Politica Industriale: Journal of Industrial and Business Economics, Springer;Associazione Amici di Economia e Politica Industriale, vol. 42(4), pages 395-440, December.
    17. Marina-Eliza Spaliara & Holger Görg, 2009. "Financial health, exports, and firm survival: A comparison of British and French firms," Discussion Paper Series 2009_18, Department of Economics, Loughborough University.
    18. Moho Shiraishi & Go Yano, 2022. "The Financial Crisis in 2008, the Stimulus Package, and Distortion of Financial Intermediation in China: A Survival Analysis Approach," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 64(2), pages 280-323, June.
    19. Mincheol Choi & Chang‐Yang Lee, 2020. "The Peter Pan syndrome for small and medium‐sized enterprises: Evidence from Korean manufacturing firms," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 41(3), pages 426-445, April.
    20. Marina-Eliza Spaliara & Serafeim Tsoukas, 2009. "The role of bond finance in firms' survival during the Asian crisis," Discussion Paper Series 2009_17, Department of Economics, Loughborough University.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Firm culture; competition and the interactive entertainment industry;

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:rdg:emxxdp:em-dp2008-68. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Alexander Mihailov (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/derdguk.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.