A MODEL FOR LOGISTICS MANAGEMENT IN A POST‐SOVIET CENTRAL ASIAN TRANSITIONAL ECONOMY

The research presented explores the logistics management of European and North American manufacturing companies operating in the unique environment of the post‐Soviet Central Asian transitional economy of Kazakhstan. Combining three alternating phases of quantitative and qualitative analysis, the research identifies the challenges logistics managers face in their efforts to distribute their companies' products into and within Kazakhstan. Then, using cross‐case analysis on a series of eleven case studies of European and North American manufacturing companies operating in Kazakhstan, the article concludes with a grounded theoretical model of logistics management for European and North American companies in Kazakhstan. The model highlights the unexpectedly divergent paths taken by companies from two different industry categories.     

Reputation and international technology transfer: a comparative study of Japanese,European and American corporations in Korea

We have compared the licensing agreements of Korean firms with Japanese, North American and European (British and Continental European) licensors. In view of contract length, Continental Europeans and North Americans show longer period than Japanese and British. Considering the brand accompanying the technology licensing, we can observe a difference between the Anglo-American countries and the others. The outcome corresponds with the existing literature that opportunism is greater in the Anglo-Saxon culture than elsewhere.     

Continental differences in purchasing strategies and tools

This article focuses on the similarities and differences between the continental purchasing strategies and tools of companies in Western Europe and North America. The main question examined here is the strategic priorities and tools that European and North American buyers use (at the category level) for direct purchases and how they differ. The analysis is based on an empirical study of 224 companies from 10 countries. The results suggest that Europeans emphasise a reduction in prices and total cost of ownership as strategic objectives, while North Americans place greater emphasis on compliance with social and ethical guidelines. Both groups place surprisingly little emphasis on environmental objectives. In terms of tools, North American buyers have higher utilisation of electronic tools in purchasing and in communicating with suppliers, while European buyers appear to more extensively use purchasing tools associated with rating and auditing suppliers. Overall, it appears that a majority of purchases take place in home countries and close-by regions. Accordingly, we argue that practices adopted there offer interesting insights for international purchasing of the companies.     

The management of expatriates: messages from Europe?

Much of our knowledge of expatriation and the processes of managing expatriates comes from North American researchers analysing the policies and practices of North American multinational corporations. This article uses that base of understanding, but argues that there has been an increasing stream of research into IHRM in Europe, which remains largely “invisible” to the North American specialists. Given the paucity of research in the area in general and the need for a more international understanding which can arise from examining different contexts, the article suggests that commentators outside Europe may find useful insights in the European analyses.     

The Salmon-Agreement Between Norway and the European Union—A Welfare Economic Analysis

The relationship between tariff policy and anti-dumping use is empirically examined. Using a panel dataset of 56 countries over the period of 1995–2007, the effects of tariff liberalization on anti-dumping use are found to vary across world regions. For European countries, as well as developed North American and Latin American countries, a lower tariff rate appears to induce more use of anti-dumping measures, which emerge as a protection tool among trade liberalization regimes. In contrast, a reduction in a tariff rate leads to lower anti-dumping use in developing North American and Latin American countries and in developed Asian, African, and Middle Eastern countries. In terms of initiating anti-dumping action, developed countries are likely to be more sensitive than developing countries to tariff policy change in most regions of the world.     

Intellectual property rights: Changing levels of protection under GATT NAFTA and the EU

Revisions in the laws protecting intellectual rights have occurred across the board in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the European Union (EU) and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Chaudhry and Walsh focus on the eurrent problem of patent piracy in the pharmaceutical industry and the effect these changes have on this sector.     

Advertising and Cultural Values: Reflections in the Distorted Mirror

This paper reviews the regrets and fears expressed by North American scholars about the commercialization of culture and presents a method for measuring the cultural character of advertising. This content analysis of manifest values yields a value profile of advertising and shows high consistency over time and across media. There is, however, a low correlation between this value profile and that of either the population at large or of heavy media users. This seriously challenges the conventional notion that advertising merely mirrors social values.     

Women Entrepreneurs: A Comparison of International Small Business Owners in Poland and the Czech Republic

Women entrepreneurs from two Central European countries with relatively new market economies were interviewed for this research. The authors describe the experiences and motivation of these women international business owners and compare them to the literature on women entrepreneurs in North America. Cross-culturally, women entrepreneurs share many of the same motivations for starting a business, and experience similar challenges to making their enterprises successful. North American models of entrepreneurship are also examined. The findings suggest a universal model for entrepreneurship. Suggestions for government policies are put forward. Managerial and theoretical implications are also presented and new directions for research on women entrepreneurs are suggested.     

国际投资协议中国民待遇原则与清单管理模式的比较研究及对中国的启示

本文从国际投资协定中国民待遇的基本内涵出发,围绕国民待遇适用标准及与之相配合使用的清单管理模式,比较研究准入前国民待遇和准入后国民待遇,以及正面清单、负面清单和混合清单3种清单管理模式的具体内容、特点与实践情况,重点结合当前国际投资协定中国民待遇与清单管理的两种主要组合模式——"欧洲模式"和"北美范本",深入探讨"准入前国民待遇+负面清单"模式在中国的具体适用问题。     

Japan 20: The West 1 Reversing the Scorecard

The trade imbalance between Japan and its Western partners may be a source of concern, but much more serious is the even far greater investment imbalance. While Japanese direct investments have poured into the North American and European markets, American and European investments in Japan are paltry: the current ratio of investment flows is running at 20 to 1, in some cases much more, in Japan's favour. As the strategic issues for Western companies in establishing a "robust presence" in Japan are fundamental and critical, the trade and investment deficits are partly caused and further exacerbated by the "knowledge-gap" between the two. Reversing the scorecard must be the most urgent imperative for Western corporations and governments, though the effort required will be very substantial indeed.     

The kidnapping of Europe: High-order moments' transmission between developed and emerging markets

The paper proposes a semi-nonparametric methodology consistent with dynamic conditional correlations and high-order moments to jointly estimate transmissions in volatility, skewness and kurtosis in highly volatile scenarios among developed and emerging markets. As a by-product of the SNP-VSK model, we measure co-movements between conditional correlations and high-order moments, and tail dependence. Our results depict European markets as full receivers and North American and Asia-Pacific as transmitters of high-order moments' risk. The analyses also indicate that conditional correlation is positively correlated to volatility and kurtosis and negatively correlated to skewness, and that conditional kurtosis between markets is high and positive.     

NAFTA: Results after one year

Increasing efforts at “regionalisation” can be observed worldwide, initiated particularly by the successes of the European Union (EU), the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and also through the foundation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). What expectations are involved in such amalgamations, what problems arise and how can future opportunities be assessed, briefly: cui bono? The following paper analyses these questions with the help of experiences and information gained by NAFTA and attempts to answer them.     

Advertising in times of war: Themes in Argentine print advertising during the Malvinas/Falklands War

In the plethora of literature that investigates how the advertising industry reacts to changes in society, very few studies are concerned with regions outside of North America and Europe. For this study, we were interested in testing whether the conclusions of North American research in marketing communications would transfer to an understudied market. The ever-changing Argentine economy is a fertile ground to analyze changes in advertising strategies and tactics during times of turmoil. Thus, this study considered changes in appeals and strategies in print advertisements across two eras for the Latin American country: prewar (1981) and war (1982). With the advancement of the war efforts, results indicated that there were changes in (1) the tactical intent of the ads, (2) the nature of the advertiser, and (3) the products advertised. Additionally, our study shows that discursive strategies employed by advertisers were consistent with those emphasized by other media, such as television and print journalism.     

Author and institution rankings in retail research: an analysis of the four retail journals from 1994–2008

The four retailing journals are reviewed over a 15 year period through 2008. Utilizing established methodology, the impact of scholars and institutions upon the retailing discipline is assessed using five measures. Over 1,800 articles were reviewed, coded for authorship and institutional affiliation and then analyzed based on several measures designed to control for quantity and quality of publication. Results by journal as well as overall are tabled by author and institutional appearance. Findings include a distinct division of European authors and institutions dominating the three European-based journals and North American authors dominating the American-based journal.     

美洲白银与欧洲价格革命

一般认为16世纪欧洲发生的“价格革命”是由于美洲白银输入所引起的。其实不然。欧洲“价格革命”在美洲白银到来之前就已经发生了，其根本原因是欧洲经济发展有限，尤其是粮食不足，不能适应人口增长的需要。美洲白银的输入促进了欧洲社会经济的发展，加强了欧洲在亚洲贸易中的实力，进一步强化了东西方的经济联系。     

Similarity and Competition in the Agri-Food Trade among European Mediterranean Countries

ABSTRACT

Using Eurostat and OECD data on agri-food exports, this article provides a picture of the evolution in the similarity between Italian and other European Mediterranean countries’ exports, before and after the recent financial crisis. Considering different indexes, the similarity is somewhat moderate and does not vary noticeably among the indexes when considering the EU-25 market. By contrast, a strong qualitative dissimilarity is recorded in the North American market. Overall, France and Spain appear more similar to Italy and likely to compete in the same agri-food market segments. The crisis seems associated to a slight modification of the exports structure.     

Pure diffusion? The great English hotel charges debate in The Times, 1853

This article explores the role of nineteenth century national newspapers and their readers in disseminating management innovations to the English hotel industry. In September 1853, many well-travelled, knowledgeable customers spontaneously wrote letters to The Times complaining about over-priced, uncomfortable English hotels compared to lower-priced, more comfortable European and North American hotels. The letters and editorials from The Times and other national newspapers campaigned for English hotels to adopt international hotel management innovations. The article suggests that this is an early example of pure diffusion in communicating innovations.     

Teaching Business Ethics in Transitional Economies: Avoiding Ethical Missionary

North American and West European academics are accepting offers to speak or teach about business ethics to audiences in countries with transitional economies. Such engagements should not be accepted without an appreciation for the challenges involved. This paper outlines the dynamics of business ethics in these former communist countries and describes circumstances relating to ethical training, and course content and pedagogy. A concluding section of the paper identifies some guidelines that instructors should consider before becoming involved with ethical training in transitional economies. The principle message to be received from this paper is that instructors should avoid being ethics missionaries with preconceived ideals.