The federal role in international business education

Rapid global change, driven especially by the telecommunications, computing, and biotechnology industries, are rapidly transforming the international economic, social, and cultural landscape. Affected are both urban and rural businesses that face intense competition at home and abroad. If the United States is to continue to main‐tain a competitive advantage in the global marketplace, educational institutions must prepare the next generation of leaders for a pluralistic world in which multi‐culturalism dominates and international business education is multidimensional. This article addresses the role that the U.S. federal government has played in prepar‐ing international business graduates. It examines the contributions of two federal grant programs: the Business and International Education program and the Centers for International Business program, both authorized under the Higher Education Act of 1965 as amended. ? 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

A Comparative Study of Web-Based Technology Applications in Corporations

Due to the complexity of international trade and intense global competition, businesses today are facing challenges that were unthinkable a decade ago. To effectively respond to these challenges, companies continue to explore new ways to measure and extend value to their existing and new customer base. In the past, business practices have used expensive and time consuming tools to manage day-to-day operations. However, with technology advancing at a rapid speed, companies are forced to incorporate new technologies into their organizational decision processes to remain competitive and to maintain or expand market share. One technological tool that has become increasingly valuable to business firms is the internet. The evolution of the internet has resulted in numerous web-based tools that have proven to be flexible and data rich enhancements in a wide variety of business applications. This research examines how corporations utilize the internet in their internal and external business decision processes. The study highlights the benefits, similarities, and differences between SMEs and large firms with regard to the applications of these technologies.     

The Endogenous African Business: Why and How It Is Different,Why It Is Emerging Now and Why It Matters

ABSTRACT

Africa is currently undergoing a transition that is unprecedented in its history. For the first time, the demand of urban populations pulls business development, thus creating economies with higher levels of specialization than before. This essay highlights the phenomenon of the endogenous African businesses that are arising in this process. These businesses tap into the natural resources and the social, economic, and cultural systems that build upon them. These resources and systems make the African business environment different from business environments in other parts of the world. Furthermore, the endogenous businesses have access to knowledge on how to manage modern businesses in the formal sector of the economy. In combination with African resources and systems, such knowledge enables them to create and sustain and competitive advantage in modern dynamic marketplaces. Endogenous African businesses are important because they have the potential to fuel economic growth, to revitalize rural areas, to contribute to food security and healthy diets, and to provide role models of which Africans can be proud. Hence, these businesses deserve our attention in the next two decades of scholarly research and education on African business.     

The Business(es) of the Chinese State

The state industrial sector is the Achilles heel of China's otherwise remarkable economic performance over the past two decades. Most other countries in transition from socialism have transformed SOEs into commercial entities through systematic, market‐driven restructuring and privatisation to become more efficient and competitive. In China, a series of innovative, if often administrative, insitutional reforms since 1978 have begun to achieve the Chinese authorities' goal of ‘separating governemtn from business.’ But the Chinese State still maintains ownership of key enterprises, and government agencies carry out shareholder functions typically performed by private owners in a market economy. Although privatisation and restructuring of SOEs is occurring, it mostly pertains to small and medium sized firms. For the principal businesses, by contrast, the creation of large state enterprise groups and holding companies (and experiments in other forms of ‘state asset management’) have become the main form of restructuring. Today, China's SOEs still account for more than one‐quarter of national production, two‐thirds of total assets, more than half of urban employment and almost three‐quarters of investment. While direct budgetary subsidies have declined, explicit and implicit subsidies are still making their way to prop up loss‐making SOEs through the financial system and other routes. At the same time, SOEs are still producing non‐marketable products, resulting in a sizeable inventory overhang. These inefficiencies and distortions represent a drain on the country's resources and thus present a challenge to the Chinese leadership for reform. This paper sheds light on these challenges by analysing the incentives and constraints on China's SOE reform programme. Four critical aspects of the reforms are highlighted and evaluated against the backdrop of international experience: clarification of property rights; establishment of large group/holding companies and other new organisational structures; improved corporate governance incentives; and implementation of international financial accounting and auditing practices. The paper concludes with policy recommendations.     

Ethical Business and Investment: A Model for Business and Society

Two key questions lie at the heart of the business challenge for business ethics: is it possible for business and investors to do well while doing good; and if so, how can this be achieved? This paper adopts an international investment perspective to address these questions. It demonstrates that it is possible for business and investors to achieve a triple bottom line of environmental, social and financial performance. A new integrated model of Ethical Business including an Ethical Scorecard performance measurement technology is presented based on international ethical investment criteria and case studies of businesses rated highly by ethical investors. Ethical Performance Scores are presented for these businesses and New Zealand business. Examples from New Zealand are presented to illustrate the Ethical Scorecard and ethical business practice. The model and scoring system provide a basis for international benchmarking of ethical business to assist investors, managers and researchers.     

The law and ethics of big data analytics: A new role for international human rights in the search for global standards

The Economist recently declared that digital information has overtaken oil as the world’s most valuable commodity. Big data technology is inherently global and borderless, yet little international consensus exists over what standards should govern its use. One source of global standards benefitting from considerable international consensus might be used to fill the gap: international human rights law. This article considers the extent to which international human rights law operates as a legal or ethical constraint on global commercial use of big data technologies. By providing clear baseline standards that apply worldwide, human rights can help shape cultural norms—implemented as ethical practices and global policies and procedures—about what businesses should do with their information technologies. In this way, human rights could play a broad and important role in shaping business thinking about the proper handling of this increasingly valuable commodity in the modern global society.     

Doing Business in India

On its independence in 1947, India was among the two most industrialized nations in Asia. Since then it adopted a “mixed economy” approach that hindered its national growth and the optimum utilization of its immense resources (both natural and human). To re‐establish itself as an economic force in the region, India liberalized its economy in early 1990s. The adoption of the “free market economy” model has created great opportunities for foreign businesses. This article provides useful information on the complex business environment, aimed to help foreign businessmen and investors to develop a good understanding on key background knowledge for being successful in India. It reviews Indian historical development, political structure and climate, international relations, and economy and foreign trade. India's infrastructure, legal framework, socio‐cultural set‐up, competitive environment, as well as market structure and potential are also analyzed. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Globalization and organizational restructuring: A strategic perspective

The new market opportunities, competitive threats, and diffusion of business models associated with globalization have been key drivers of organizational restructuring over the past decade. Companies have responded to these developments in a variety of ways with the objective of improving their cost and/or revenue structures through reorganizing their vertical, horizontal, and spatial boundaries and governance mechanisms. Major forms of restructuring at the business level have included labor intensification, investment in new technologies, downsizing and reengineering, the formation of strategic alliances and networks, spatial reconfiguration, and a shift from international and multinational to global and transnational strategies. To be most effective, any type of restructuring must be clearly and explicitly aligned with a firm's business‐level strategy in order to maximize the efficient and effective allocation of resources in pursuit of competitive advantage. A strategic use of restructuring which links such efforts to broader competitive strategy, and where possible to a “high‐road” approach to overall competitiveness, should result in more sustainable benefits which generate increased value‐added to shareholders as well as greater well being in the broader stakeholder community. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Market entry and international propagation of business cycles

In this paper, pro-cyclical market entry acts as an international transmission mechanism for business cycle shocks. In an imperfectly competitive dynamic equilibrium model, an expansion in one open economy leads to additional business formation in a parallel large open economy through demand spillovers. Business formation causes a decline in markups leading to an expansion in employment, production, and investment in both economies. The modeling of the entry decision is critical. Only when the entry game is modelled as sequential (with incumbents enjoying a first mover advantage) are markups sufficiently elastic to cause international comovement.     

US small retail businesses’ perception of competition: Looking through a lens of fear,confidence, or cooperation

The U.S. retail industry has undergone dramatic changes, leading to the closing of brick-and-mortar retail stores on a large scale. Understanding perceived market competition among small retail businesses may help explain why certain businesses survive or fail in the altered retail environment. This study investigates small retail businesses' perceptions of competition within/outside the community, underlying reasons for their perceptions, and variations in perceptions by different business characteristics. Contrary to common expectations, we found that more than half of businesses interviewed were optimistic in the face of competition. Our data reveal two salient underlying reasons for pessimism and five for optimism. These perceptions tended to differ by operational locality (urban clusters vs. urban areas), business revenues, and innovativeness. Based on the findings, we developed propositions and a framework of small businesses' perceived competition and sustainable competitive advantage. We discussed theoretical and practical implications for small retail businesses’ sustainable growth in the challenging retail environment.     

The Dependence of Family Businesses on a Single Decision‐Maker*

Anecdotal evidence suggests that family businesses are very dependent on a single individual (the owner‐manager). However, the degree of dependence previously has not been studied formally. Further, an explanation for why some family businesses are highly dependent on the owner‐manager and others are not has not been explored. Utilizing a national survey of Canadian family‐owned businesses, this paper therefore addresses two central issues: (1) the degree of dependence of family‐owned businesses on a single individual; and (2) the factors associated with this reliance. Self‐report responses from family business owners provided evidence of a high level of dependence on the owner‐manager. In 75 percent of all family businesses, respondents believed that the company was either dependent or very dependent on them. The response to this subjective question is consistent with responses to our three more objective measures. First, 65 percent of owner‐managers responded that they made all the major decisions in at least three of five functional business areas. Second, these businesses had few key managers—in 57 percent of all businesses, there were only two or fewer key managers in addition to the owner. Third, in 62 percent of all family businesses, neither had a successor been chosen nor had a process been put in place for choosing a successor. These results strongly suggest that family businesses are highly dependent on a single individual. Six factors had significant power in explaining the degree of dependence. Two factors related to the owner‐manager—dependence decreased in the age of the owner‐manager and in proximity of the owner‐manager to retirement. Four factors related to the family business: dependence decreased in the value of the firm, the number of shareholders, and the age of the business and was greater where the owner‐manager's family had voting control. Surprisingly, neither the existence of a board of directors with outside membership nor an advisory board with outside membership helped explain the level of dependence.     

The Influence of Trust on the Trilogy of Knowledge Creation,Sharing, and Transfer

This empirical article focuses on the phenomenon of trust and its influence on the trilogy of the following interrelated factors that are crucial to the success of international business cooperations and their economic results: knowledge creation, knowledge sharing, and knowledge transfer. Trust is expected and desired by many business partners, but it is also abused by others. The term trust, due to its intangible and invisible nature, is often ignored or superficially treated by companies. However, when trust does not exist between international cooperation partners or is not nurtured, negative relationships and financial implications occur. These lacunae could be explained due to the difficulty in quantifying as a financial asset. The article presents qualitative findings (from two empirical research studies): (1) the implications of trust development for knowledge transfer between Russian‐ and German‐speaking companies, and (2) the influence of trust on knowledge sharing in the completion of an Austrian construction project. The authors applied phenomenological interviewing and observations of critical incidents or significant occurrences, combined with comparative content analysis. The positive influence of trust on the aforementioned trilogy results in higher levels of the involved companies’ innovativeness, culminating in higher levels of competitive advantage and profitability. The empirical findings are presented to explain the influence of trust on knowledge creation, sharing, and transfer, which have a bearing on intercultural cooperations. One innovative finding relates to the differentiated perception of emotions and the implications that this entails. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Retail supply chain management practices in India: A business intelligence perspective

The study surveyed executives of a major food retailer in India and explored their perspectives on supply chain management practices, competitive advantage and firm performance; to assess the importance accorded to application of business intelligence (BI) in their operations. Nine dimensions for SCM practices and four dimensions for competitive advantage are identified which are found to strongly relate to each other. The dimensions of SCM also strongly relate to firm performance. Though information sharing with suppliers and their inclusion in strategic decision-making emerge as key dimensions of SCM, their impact on competitive advantage is perceived to be insignificant by retailers.     

Effects of Entrepreneurial and Environmental Sustainability Orientations on Firm Performance: A Study of Small Businesses in the Philippines

Why do small businesses in developing countries embrace sustainable business practices and what are the effects on their performance? We address these questions by drawing on the natural‐resource based view of the firm to argue that the environmental sustainability orientation of small businesses can be explained by their entrepreneurial orientation. Our study of 197 small businesses in the Philippines shows that an entrepreneurial strategic orientation enables them to develop a more proactive stance toward environmental sustainability practices which lead to superior firm performance. The implications of the findings for future research and for public policy for small businesses are also discussed.     

Discount development in france: The introduction of the format and the competitive response

This article aims to set forth and clarify the factors that caused the rapid development of the hard discount business in France over the past 2 years and to highlight their key impacts. The hard discount business is supposed to have triggered an “intratype” competitive reaction by many French companies which diversified their businesses into this segment, as well as an “intertype” set of reactions by both supermarkets and hypermarkets which implemented the new strategies described in this article based on either cost‐cutting policies and/or trade names differentiation. Conclusions may be drawn following an analysis of the features of this formula as well as the consumers' and competitors' responses. One conclusion may be that the discounters are also bound to increase their market share further once the economic crisis is over. In fact, this business meets the on‐going purchasing and shopping needs by most of the consumers.     

我国投资银行业务的现状、风险防范及业务创新

我国投资银行业务的现状及存在的问题 :传统型业务 ,存在承销业务雷同 ,经纪业务品种单一 ,业务趋同和业间合作趋同化 ;创新型业务———并购业务 ,存在诸多非市场因素及投资银行自身障碍导致了并购后企业的低效率 ;业务多元化是投资银行的发展趋势 ,但多元化带来的利益冲突日益突显。政府在政策上就必须逐步解除人为垄断 ,引导投资银行走特色经营之路 ,完善相关法规 ,继续实施产权制度改革 ,推动并购业务的创新发展。券商要不断地进行业务创新 ,开拓业务的多元化和国际化 ,以实现投资银行的可持续发展。     

The influence of ownership structure and board strategic involvement on international sales: The moderating effect of family involvement

This paper contributes to the family business and the international business literature by analysing whether and to what extent different compositions of the ownership structure and degrees of board strategic involvement impact on the level of international sales of family and non-family businesses. Our main hypotheses are tested on a sample of 342 Norwegian firms via regression analysis. The results from this study show the existence, in both in family and non-family businesses, of a positive and significant relationship between foreign investors’ ownership and the level of international sales. Furthermore, the relationship between CEO ownership impacts negatively on international sales in both family and non-family businesses. While board strategic involvement contributes positively to international sales in non-family businesses it becomes not significant when we only look at family businesses. Implications for theory and practice and future research directions are discussed.     

Strategic orientation in handicraft subsistence businesses in Oaxaca,Mexico

Abstract

This article, based in the body of strategic orientation literature, identifies and explores the practices of innovativeness, proactiveness and competitive aggressiveness that make up the strategic orientation implemented by subsistence entrepreneurs to improve business performance. A factor analysis was carried out using the data of 101 entrepreneurs, small artisanal business owners who operate in the subsistence markets in Oaxaca, Mexico. The results show that subsistence entrepreneurs notably engage in innovative and proactive practices, and, to a lesser extent, competitive aggressiveness. The research concludes that a combination of innovativeness with proactiveness is the most viable option for improving performance, whereas competitive aggressiveness impedes its development. Even so, however, it is still implemented by subsistence businesses in order to conserve their market share.     

Fine tuning market oriented practices

Being more market oriented—in other words, getting closer to customers while keeping a wary eye on competitors in order to respond quickly and effectively to changing market conditions—has long been viewed as a key way of improving competitive advantage. However, there is still a lack of understanding about how to optimize the implementation of market oriented business strategies, particularly in the service sector. This article addresses that gap by investigating how customer and competitor focused practices can be fine tuned to create differential advantages. An in-depth qualitative study of professional, financial, and business service firms in New Zealand suggests that how well market oriented practices are implemented is much more important than the range of practices that are adopted.     

Going green: the evolution of micro‐business environmental practices

This paper examines the process through which micro‐businesses ‘go green’. It builds upon previous studies that have identified the different drivers of this greening process. However, rather than a static focus on specific drivers, the study articulates the evolution of environmental practices over time. The paper uses comparative case studies of six micro‐businesses to build a composite sequence analysis that plots the greening process from its roots through to large‐scale and ambitious ecological projects. The study identifies three distinct stages that businesses pass through during this greening process. This has important implications for policy‐makers and advisors as it was found that the support needed by the businesses changed as they passed through these different stages. In particular, it was found that appropriate support is currently lacking at certain key points of the businesses' greening development. The paper therefore adds to current understanding of small business ecological responsibility by showing how activities and drivers change with the level of engagement. Pointers are provided as to how support can be improved.