The adolescence of Asia management research: <Emphasis Type="Italic">APJM</Emphasis>, 1997–2006

In this article we reflect on the adolescent years of Asia management research published in the Asia Pacific Journal of Management (APJM) by reviewing work published in the past 10 years (1997–2006). We report that during the last decade, APJM has published 223 research articles, written by 373 different authors, who are affiliated with 203 different institutions. Our discussion of the future of Asia management research is guided by Kuhn’s (Kuhn, T. S. The structure of scientific revolutions. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1962) perspective on the nonlinear progression of science. We argue that as a growing community, Asia management research is finding its “identity” and establishing its presence in the larger worldwide management research community. Following our analysis, we conclude that the growth of Asia management research—as captured by APJM publications—throughout its “adolescent” years has set forth a challenging and exciting path for the future. All authors contributed equally. We thank Mike Peng (Editor-in-Chief) for his encouragement and advice. This work was completed when Yu-Shan Su was a Fulbright visiting scholar at the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD). She thanks the Fulbright Association and the Taiwanese Ministry of Education for partially funding this work.

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Stackelberg versus Cournot oligopoly with private information

We compare an $n$-firm Cournot model with a Stackelberg model, where $n$-firms choose outputs sequentially, in a stochastic demand environment with private information. The expected total output, consumer surplus, and total surplus are lower, while expected price and total profits are higher in the Stackelberg perfect revealing equilibrium than in the Cournot equilibrium. These rankings are the opposite of the rankings of prices, total output, surplus, and profits under perfect information. We also show that the first $n-1$ firms’ expected profits form a decreasing sequence from the first to the $(n-1){}^{st}$ in the Stackelberg game. The last mover earns more expected profit than the first mover if $n\le 4,$ or the ratio of the signals’ informativeness to the prior certainty is sufficiently low. Lastly, there is a discontinuity between the Stackelberg equilibrium of the perfect information game and the limit of Stackelberg perfect revealing equilibria, as the noise of the demand information of firms vanishes to zero at the same rate. We provide various robustness checks for the results when the precision of signals are asymmetric, there is public information or cost/quality uncertainty, or the products are differentiated.     

Knowledge management and innovation strategy in the Asia Pacific: Toward an institution-based view

The emergence of knowledge-intensive society has changed the nature of business competition. Knowledge management becomes an important managerial task and formulating a sound innovation strategy is an integral part of strategic management. Adopting an institution-based view, this article argues that the institutional environment in the Asia Pacific region plays a multi-faceted role behind firms’ knowledge management and innovation strategy. Specifically, institutions impose rules for legitimacy, serve as a source of knowledge, and allocate incentives and resources for innovation. We believe that future research drawing on the institution-based view has significant potential to advance our understanding of knowledge management and innovation strategy in Asia Pacific firms.

A strategic analysis of surging Chinese manufacturers: The case of Galanz

Recent years have witnessed the surging of Chinese manufacturers, as China has become the world’s factory floor. This paper presents a case study of one of the most successful manufacturers in China, the Galanz Group, now the world’s largest microwave manufacturer. Based on theories of multinational corporations from emerging economies, the paper examines the process of Galanz’s integration into the global market. The company has developed unique competitive strategies that have made it a great success within China and in overseas markets. The Galanz model suggests strong strategic implications for both Chinese firms and incumbent multinational corporations.

Competitive dynamics research: An insider’s odyssey

This paper introduces competitive dynamics research, a body of work that has emerged in the strategic management field over the last two decades. I will focus on my scholarly pursuit—both the substance and the process—during the early years of my faculty career. I will use my twelve core publications written during this period to outline the entire research program, highlight the makeup of each of the four sub-streams of the program, and show how these streams are linked. I will also share my personal learning in the process of building this research program. The paper aims to convey some firsthand experience for researchers and scholars, especially those starting in their careers and international scholars who are interested in publishing in major U.S.-based journals, so they can construct their own research programs and cope with the manifold process challenges in research and publishing.

The first decade of the Asia Academy of Management

This paper briefly reviews the history of the Asia Academy of Management, the official sponsor of the Asia Pacific Journal of Management. It is suggested that establishing the Asia Academy of Management is a response to the new challenges of the academic institutional environment, both in Asia and in the mainstream management research community. Judging from the achievements in terms of reputation in the region, publication citations, school rankings, and internal organizational development, this new venture has added significant value to the global academic community. The challenges facing the Asia Academy, however, include the need to attract more interested parties to actively involve in its activities, more genuine cooperation among Asian and non-Asian institutions, and a need to affirm the contributions of Asian management studies.

Parent country nationals or local nationals for executive positions in foreign affiliates: An empirical study of Japanese affiliates in Korea

This study examines how the host country experience of Japanese multinational corporations (MNCs) affects their staffing policies for executive manager positions at foreign affiliates. Hypotheses on executive staffing policies for foreign affiliates are tested using survey data collected from 103 Japanese affiliates in Korea. Findings show that the level of global integration and the degree of centralization of decision-making positively affect an assignment of parent country nationals as executive managers of foreign affiliates. We further find that foreign affiliates’ experience in a host country moderates the effects of both global integration and centralization on staffing decisions for the affiliates.

Japanese horizontal keiretsu and the performance implications of membership

Our study investigates the effect of Japanese horizontal keiretsu group membership on firm risk and return. Like prior studies, our results show that horizontal keiretsu membership has a negative effect on firm profitability. However, we find that horizontal keiretsu networks are likely to increase the gap between targeted and realized returns, which we call the outcome–aspiration gap. Moreover, in contrast to prior studies, our results indicate that keiretsu membership does not enable member firms to reduce risks by smoothing profitability. Instead, our findings provide evidence that is counter to the conventional notion that Japanese horizontal keiretsu allows their member firms to trade off profits for reduced risk.

Research rankings of Asia Pacific business schools: Global versus local knowledge strategies

Despite the increasing recognition of the importance of the research mission of universities, no previous work has investigated the research productivity and research strategies of Asia Pacific business schools. This article fills this important gap by conducting the first study to rank the publication productivity of 130 Asia Pacific business schools. Drawing on data from the UTD Top 100 Business School Research Rankings™ and several additional sources, we rank Asia Pacific business schools’ research productivity in three areas: (1) twenty-four leading business journals, (2) seven top management journals, and (3) five Asia Pacific management journals. We also extend this analysis by documenting the distinct publishing strategies of various Asia Pacific business schools—global, local, or both.

Extending the “P” perspective: An institutional account of management research in Australia

In commenting Meyer’s article “Asian management research needs more self-confidence” in APJM (2006), Yang and Terjesen (Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 24(4):497–507, 2007) described ground realities in Australia that may have inhibited the development of a robust management research community. As an Australia-trained and Australia-based Asian management scholar, I extend the “P” perspective by exploring how the formal and informal institutions interact in shaping Australia-based scholars’ publication strategies and research performance. Reflecting on my experience in Australia, I argue that like in any other businesses, institutions matter in our business of research and publication. They matter because they can shape the local “rule of the game” within which a country’s or a region’s scholars conduct and publish their research. A full institutional account of the current state of management research in the Asia Pacific region requires a deeper understanding of both formal and informal local institutions. From such an institutional perspective, this commentary concentrates on why Australian management research lags behind that in the US and Europe and yet leads the Asia Pacific region.

Attributive change in top management teams as a driver of strategic change

This study examines the role of top management team (TMT) member succession in breaking organizational inertia. We compare the impact of two types of change in TMTs—in member number and demographic heterogeneity—on subsequent strategic reorientation using data on the diversification activities of firms in the Japanese textile industry. Our findings suggest that executive succession does not trigger strategic change unless succession entails change in the values and interests of executives embedded in their demographic traits.

Location advantages and subsidiaries’ R&;D activities in emerging economies: Exploring the effect of employee mobility

With multinational corporations increasingly seeking subsidiaries’ specific advantages in foreign countries to develop their innovative capabilities, internationalization of research and development has been greatly emphasized. However, in emerging economies, managers are encountering the challenge of high employee mobility under the weak intellectual property protection regime. This article investigates subsidiaries’ employee mobility and proposes that it negatively moderates the relationship between location advantages and the level of subsidiaries’ R&D. This article extends R&D internationalization and enhances current understanding of subsidiaries’ R&D activities. Further, it provides managerial implications as to how managers can improve R&D outcome by mitigating obstacles in emerging economies.

Adoption of professional management in Chinese family business: A multilevel analysis of impetuses and impediments

Building upon the market, institutional, and cultural perspectives, this paper identifies the major impetuses and impediments that affect the professionalization of Chinese family business at the environment, firm, and owner levels. Our integrative framework projects that whether a family business owner will adopt professional managers is largely determined by the relative strength of impetus factors and impediment factors. We then discuss the possible governance choices under different configuration of impetuses and impediments. This theoretical framework is expected to help set the momentum for further conceptual exploration and empirical study in this area.

Economic design of an chart for short-run production

The aim of this paper is to present an economical design of an X chart for a short-run production. The process mean starts equal to μ₀ (in-control, State I) and in a random time it shifts to μ₁>μ₀ (out-of-control, State II). The monitoring procedure consists of inspecting a single item at every m produced ones. If the measurement of the quality characteristic does not meet the control limits, the process is stopped, adjusted, and additional (r-1) items are inspected retrospectively. The probabilistic model was developed considering only shifts in the process mean. A direct search technique is applied to find the optimum parameters which minimizes the expected cost function. Numerical examples illustrate the proposed procedure.     

Double vision: Insights about the origin and interpretation of multiple IRRs

The ability of a project's internal rate of return (IRR) to quantify its economic return has been questioned by many scholars over the past 60 years, most recently by Magni (2010 Magni, C.A. (2010) Average internal rate of return and investment decisions: a new perspective. The Engineering Economist, 55(2), 150–180. [Google Scholar], 2013 Magni, C.A. (2013) The internal rate of return approach and the AIRR paradigm: a refutation and a corroboration. The Engineering Economist, 58(2), 73–111. [Google Scholar]). Although IRR is a plausible—albeit imperfect—measure of a project's economic return when the cash flow stream is conventional, IRR can be an untenable measure of an unconventional project's economic return. The goal of this article is to identify a simple, intuitive explanation of IRR, one that can be applied to any cash flow pattern. To do this, the article shows how a project's IRR systematically changes when it first crosses from the conventional into the unconventional realm (i.e., a small cash outflow is appended to a conventional cash flow stream) and then as it becomes progressively more unconventional. This process reveals that the most robust economic interpretation of IRR—for both conventional and unconventional projects—is that a project's IRRs are external benchmarks that divide the set of all plausible discount rates into positive and negative net present value (NPV) ranges, rather than internally generated returns. Because it can be difficult to estimate a project's cost of capital with precision, this information can help guide the sensitivity analysis of a project.     

基于双尺度低NO_x燃烧技术的电站锅炉改造

近年来环境污染问题日益严重,其中电力企业在NOx排放方面对环境的污染尤为突出。为减少环境污染,针对某电厂原有锅炉进行燃烧器的改造,以降低电厂NOx的排放。依据设计方案,以基于炉膛空间尺度和煤粉燃烧过程尺度的双尺度低NOx燃烧技术,对电厂燃烧器进行改造。改造结果表明:基于双尺度低NOx燃烧技术改造后的电站锅炉,其NOx的排放显著降低。     

Feeling trusted by business leaders in China: Antecedents and the mediating role of value congruence

This paper examines the antecedents of felt trust, an under-explored area in the trust literature. We hypothesized that subordinates’ felt trust would relate positively with their leaders’ moral leadership behaviors and negatively with autocratic leadership behaviors and demographic differences between leaders and themselves. We also hypothesized the above relationships to be mediated by the leader-member value congruence. Results supported our hypotheses that value congruence mediated between autocratic leadership behaviors and demographic differences and subordinates’ felt trust, but not moral leadership behaviors, which had direct effects on subordinates’ perception of feeling trusted. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Capturing the Minds of a Lost and Lonely Generation

UNICEF states that in 88 countries studied ‘more than 13 million children currently under the age of 15 have lost both parents to Aids, most of them in sub-Saharan Africa’ (UNICEF 2002). The impact of this Aids pandemic cannot be overstated. Indeed the long-term impact of such statistics is scarcely imaginable and has not been experienced in the world to date. Sustainable, indigenous technology may be a way of providing a meaningful educational experience for such marginalised young people. However the concept of sustainable, indigenous technology is not always clearly defined. This paper seeks to discuss this concept in relation to education and in particular considers the impact of the HIV/AIDs pandemic in Tanzania. The paper will outline:

The structure of students’ knowledge and self-concepts. Part A: The structure of students’ knowledge formed in information education

The purpose of this study was to examine the structure of students’ knowledge formed in information education at junior high-school level. Seventy-two 7th graders (first-year junior high-school students) and 78 10th graders (first-year high-school students) participated in the study. A cluster analysis was performed on 40 items of knowledge that was included in “Information and Computers.” The results of the analysis indicated that students’ knowledge composed from the perspective of two clusters: “Practical knowledge” and “Systematic knowledge.” In addition, “Systematic knowledge” was significantly correlated with “Processing ability,” which is one of the subordinates to “the ability of practical use of information.”     

Internal cartel stability with time-dependent detection probabilities

To account for the illegal nature of price-fixing agreements, per-period detection probabilities that can vary over time are introduced in a dynamic oligopoly. The resulting ICCs for internal cartel stability indicate that for discount factors up to 10% per-period detection probabilities of 5% are needed to reduce the number of cartel members by 50%. For the special case of stationary supergames with constant per-period detection probabilities p elegant rules emerge: internal cartel stability requires the discount factor to increase with 100 × p / (1 − p) percent while a fixed fine of 100 × (1 − p) / p percent of incremental cartel profits is required for making the ICC always binding.