The role of information technology in strategic buyer–supplier relationships

Information technology (IT) has long been acknowledged as an integral part of inter-organizational business exchange. The extant research, however, tends to emphasize the focal company perspective and focuses on operational issues, perceiving IT and business relationships as separable. Through a qualitative dyadic case study, our study defines how IT is positioned with regard to various elements of a strategic buyer–supplier relationship and the respective actors' operational and managerial behaviors. The study defines the role of IT regarding the structural, action, and management layers of a relationship and shows how IT can be a strong element around which relationship management activities are implemented to improve the consistency and performance of the relationship. The study prepares the ground for further qualitative and quantitative research to enhance a holistic understanding on IT in relation to the structures and processes in inter-organizational contexts of business relationships and networks.     

The impact of opportunity connectedness on innovation in SMEs’ foreign-market relationships

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) use of business networks has grown significantly during the last decades, partly due to increasingly complex innovation processes. This article investigates how different kinds of networks, depending on location, contextualize innovation in specific foreign market business relationships. Building on internationalization, network, and innovation research we develop a model that views opportunity connectedness in specific host-markets, home-markets, and other international markets as prerequisites to innovative collaboration and innovation outcomes in foreign business relationships. The results of our linear structural relations (LISREL) analysis of Swedish SMEs provide empirical evidence that the effect of opportunity connectedness on innovation outcomes in foreign business relationships is mediated by the level of innovative collaboration. These results indicate that SMEs need a relatively higher level of innovative collaboration in their partnerships with foreign market customers to convert opportunities conceived in home- and international- market networks into innovative outcomes in comparison to opportunities conceived in host-market networks. This finding implies that as opportunities become increasingly contextually remote, the importance of collaborative business relationships increases. By showing these results, the study contributes to research in the international small-business domain that seeks to identify important prerequisites of SME innovation.     

越南的国际经营环境及其对中国企业“走出去”的启示

越南作为亚太地区活跃的新兴经济体，外部投资环境得天独厚，经济体制、政治体制和对外贸易投资体制等内部经营环境持续改善，吸引了包括中国在内的各国企业在越南投资兴业。鉴于越南市场开发潜力大，而同时又具有不确定性，中国企业应内外兼修，抓住两国改革开放及经济发展红利所带来的投资机遇，规避经营风险，维持双方长久合作共赢的局面。     

高职商务英语专业职业能力模型构建的理论基础

职业能力模型构建对于商务英语专业人才培养方案的制定具有重要的意义,在构建模型的过程中,要以商务英语专业相关工作过程为依据,同时也要遵循学生的自身智力和非智力特点,才能实现在人才培养过程中"人尽其才,各尽所能",提高教育质量。     

小型高新技术企业的外部环境特征

本文分析了小型高新技术企业发展的外部环境特征,指出当前中国政策环境、技术环境、融资环境和社会服务环境等方面的严峻形势和积极的发展前景。     

我国BT项目投融资建设的税收支持政策研究

BT作为政府利用非政府资金来承建某些基础设施项目的一种投资方式,在我国运用于公共基础设施建设实践的时间短、取得的实践经验较少。从国家层面来讲,BT项目建设的税收支持政策不明确,呈现"无法可依"的现象;从地方政府层面来讲,有九省市践行BT项目税收支持政策的探索。本文运用实地调研和咨询法的研究方法,对我国BT项目投融资建设的税收支持政策现状、存在的问题进行剖析,在此基础上,提出了两点政策建议:一是建议财政部和国家税务总局尽快联合颁发一个全国统一规范的BT项目涉税政策法规文件,该文件应明确BT项目投融资方营业税的征税税目、计税依据和营业税与企业所得税的纳税义务时间。二是建立支持BT项目投融资建设的税收优惠政策体系:融资合同印花税全免,投资建设合同减半征收或免印花税;企业所得税减免优惠政策。     

Business Marketing Education: A Distinctive Role in the Undergraduate Curriculum

ABSTRACT

By extending their knowledge of markets beyond the consumer-goods domain, by deepening their understanding of how organizations make buying decisions, by strengthening their grasp of cross-functional processes, and by providing them with decision-making skills in this important area of marketing, the business marketing course makes a special contribution to undergraduates and the undergraduate marketing curriculum. Moreover, the content and focus of the business marketing course are closely tied to important themes that are transforming business practice. This article isolates the distinct contribution of business marketing education and examines important trends that are reshaping this domain. The central knowledge areas that comprise the undergraduate business marketing course are detailed and linked to specific course design strategies that can be pursued to strengthen the skill set of marketing students and respond to the needs of important constituents.     

Commentary on “Business-to-Business Marketing Textbooks: A Comparative Review”

ABSTRACT

The proposal by Backhaus, Muehlfeld, and Okoye (2002) to design a business marketing text around a framework of customer-relationship types is provocative and spawns a useful debate on the issue of what should actually be taught in the business marketing course, particularly at the undergraduate level. We believe that the approach may increase the attention given to relationship marketing but do so by sacrificing coverage of core content that students and informed business marketing managers need to know. In the end, we opt for a more comprehensive approach in exploring strategy making for the business market while they chart a narrower and more specialized path.     

Establishing Collaborative Business Education Programs in China

ABSTRACT

American universities have a valuable product for export to China, a world-class business education. Currently, the demand for Western-style business education far exceeds the supply. The undergraduate university system in China offers an excellent, though under-utilized, venue for providing Western-style business education to large numbers of China's next-generation business leaders. This paper describes the official procedures for establishing joint business education programs in Shanghai as well as the benefits and challenges of international collaboration.