International trade,integration and industrial location: The case of Germany

The paper confronts empirical results on the spatial distribution of integration effects and export activities in the FRG with prediction based on different theoretical approaches. It is proved that integration has at most very slightly favoured the higher agglomerated regions, and has not been to the detriment of the periphery. Export activities contributed to regional industrial despecialization and to decreasing interregional disparities. Population potentials, calculated with different distance parameters, regional productivity, the sectoral composition of industry, and average firm size are tested as explanatory variables. The results question that there are contemporary effective ‘regional’ determinants of integration effects.     

Consumers' perceptions of food packaging: an exploratory investigation in Potchefstroom,South Africa

Consumers form perceptions of various food products through their comprehension of the visual stimuli on food packaging that attract their attention. These perceptions directly affect their purchasing decision at the point of purchase, which emphasizes the importance of attention‐capturing packaging attributes. However, little research is available regarding consumers' perceptions of food packaging, especially in the South African context. This study aimed to explore a sample of South African consumers' perceptions of food packaging and how these perceptions were formed through the perceptual process. A qualitative, exploratory study was conducted by means of 25 semi‐structured interviews and through the use of ambiguous mock packaging as a projective technique. Participants were questioned regarding their general perceptions of food packaging. The attention‐capturing ability of packaging as well as consumers' interpretation of this packaging after exposure to the mock packaging was also discussed. Findings from the study indicated that participants mainly based their perception of food packaging on its functional (being purposive, recyclable and informative) and physical attributes (being attractive, of high quality and hygienic). This study also indicated that information and visual attributes of packaging are important to gain consumers' attention in‐store. Participants' comprehension of packaging included general associations of specific food products with certain types of packaging, such as associations with quality and shelf life. Negative associations with packaging mostly entailed difficulty to handle the product, poor quality of the product and environmental problems. This study identifies those product attributes that participants regarded as the most important stimuli for forming positive perceptions regarding food packaging. It is important for manufacturers to pay attention to the information on perceptions that was gained in this study, as it might help them to create packaging that better fulfil consumer needs. These findings could also be applied in a larger study of a quantitative nature, which will ultimately result in more positive consumer shopping experiences and consumer satisfaction regarding food packaging.     

A meta-analysis on employee perceptions of human resource strength: Examining the mediating versus moderating hypotheses

Human resource (HR) strength research has substantially informed an understanding of the relationship between HR practices and employee-level outcomes. However, a key unresolved issue is whether employee perceptions of HR strength act as a mediator or a moderator in the relationship between HR practices and these outcomes. A meta-analysis of 42 studies (comprising 65 samples and 29,444 unique participants) was conducted to address this issue. Results support the mediating hypothesis for all five employee outcomes: employee reactions, proactive behavior, burnout, performance, and perceived organizational effectiveness. Conversely, the moderating hypothesis was only supported for employee performance. In addition, we examined five study characteristics (the operationalization of perceived HR strength, research study design, industry, sampling strategy, and publication status) as moderators. Using this analysis, we test the robustness of our main results and identify sources of heterogeneity in the results across studies. The results show that the mediating hypothesis still holds under different study designs and contexts. Theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed.     

Perceived organizational support and knowledge sharing: employees’ self-construal matters

Abstract

HR professionals are expected to become more involved in knowledge management and facilitate knowledge sharing among employees in the knowledge economy. In this study, we investigated the relationship between perceived organizational support and knowledge sharing by taking account of employees’ interdependent and independent self-construal. Our hypotheses were examined using a 2-wave survey data-set from 145 teachers working at 4 Dutch vocational education and training schools. The results showed that perceived organizational support was positively related to knowledge sharing for employees either with a high interdependent self or with a low independent self. However, this positive relationship disappeared for employees either with a low interdependent self or with a high independent self. Overall, the moderating effect of self-construal revealed a new avenue towards a better understanding of the relationship between organizational support and employees’ knowledge sharing. It provided a tentative answer to the question of why organizational support does not often succeed in motivating employees to share their knowledge in the workplace.     

R&D team diversity and performance in hypercompetitive environments

Research summary : This article examines the effects of an R&D team's composition on its performance outcomes in hypercompetition. The fundamental feature of firms in hypercompetitive settings is that they are constantly challenged to improve their competitiveness in a relentless race to outperform one another. Analyzing a unique data set from the Formula 1 motorsport racing industry, we find an inverse U‐shaped relationship between team diversity in task‐related experience and performance an important result that diverges from well‐established theories developed in more stable environments. Fundamentally, we show that the role of R&D team experience diversity varies depending on the size of the organizations in which R&D teams operate. While we find a moderating effect for firm age, this effect is not as robust as that of firm size. Managerial summary : This article examines the relationship between R&D team composition and performance in fast‐moving environments. Firms in these environments are constantly challenged to improve their competitiveness by outperforming one another. Analyzing a unique data set from the Formula 1 motorsport racing industry, we find that a team's diversity in job‐related experience increases its performance up to a certain extent. Once R&D teams become too diverse, performance decreases because communication and coordination become more difficult. We also show that the role of R&D team diversity varies depending on the size of the organizations in which R&D teams operate. Overall, our findings provide several novel implications for the strategy, innovation, and team literatures. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Impact of clusters on exhibition destination attractiveness: Evidence from Mainland China

Clusters, as concentrations of businesses in particular localities, may explain the spatial distribution of exhibitions, and exhibition destination attractiveness (Rubalcaba-Bermejo & Cuadrado-Roura, 1995). Drawing on Porter’s (1998a) cluster theory in the context of the exhibition industry in Mainland China, this study tests and confirms the validity of this proposition. A mixed method approach was employed that involved in-depth interviews with 32 exhibitors and a survey of 616 exhibitors to 1) establish what constitutes ‘clusters’ in an exhibition context and develop appropriate measurements, and 2) assess to what extent ‘clusters’ contribute to exhibition destination attractiveness. The study developed measures for and confirmed two distinct cluster effects – ‘leadership of the host city in the industry’ and ‘host city as a source of exhibitors.’ Both cluster effects had a significant influence on exhibitors’ perceived destination attractiveness, with other destination factors being less important, in a marked contrast to convention destination attractiveness. Implications of the study results are discussed and directions for future research provided.     

Markups and export-pricing strategies

We analyze empirically export-price strategies across export destinations using detailed firm-product data. Most recent studies using disaggregated data to investigate why firms charge different prices for the same product on different markets focus on the cost component of prices and neglect the markup component. In this paper, we concentrate on the markup component and examine how variations in firms’ export prices may reflect price discrimination by comparing the markup of firms with different pricing strategies. We make use of detailed firm-level data for exporting firms in the Swedish food sector consisting of both manufacturing and intermediary trading firms. The paper documents the export-price variations within the two sub-sectors and explores how different price strategies correlate with markups. The results offer new information beyond the fact that exporters tend to have a higher markup. In particular, we find that firms in the food-processing sector with a greater ability to discriminate across markets mark their products up even more. This result points to the importance of underlying firm decisions in order to explain differences in export premiums across firms. In addition, the results reveal that markups are a complex function of firm and destination characteristics, and that the relationship between markups and pricing strategies in the manufacturing sector is not necessarily observed in other sectors of the supply chain.