Survival of full versus partial acquisitions: The moderating role of firm’s internationalization experience,cultural distance,and host country context characteristics

The high divestment rates of acquired foreign units indicate challenges connected to planning and management of foreign acquisitions. In this paper we analyze the moderating effect of internal and external variables on the relationship between acquirers’ ownership strategy and survival of acquired foreign units. We test our hypotheses on a sample of 1275 acquisitions conducted by Finnish firms in various countries during the period 1980–2005. The results indicate that the probability of survival does not differ significantly between full and partial acquisitions. We further find that the likelihood of survival in full, relative to partial acquisitions, is positively associated with the acquisition-specific experience, but inversely related to general international and target country experience. The results also reveal that the positive impact of full acquisitions is stronger if the acquisitions are made in culturally similar countries, in less developed economies, and in markets where the country risk has increased after entry.     

Labor issues and COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted Canada and several other countries to impose an economic shutdown to prevent a deadly public health crisis from becoming much deadlier. In the agriculture and food sector, several hundred thousand restaurant workers have lost their jobs. The rise in unemployment, the closing of restaurants and schools, and social distancing have triggered demand reductions for certain commodities and foods and demand increases for others, bringing along changes in demand for inputs including labor. Canadian employers of temporary foreign workers (TFWs) are facing delays and additional constraints in recruiting, but so have US and European employers of TFWs. Rising food security concerns are making protectionist trade policies popular. Domestic and foreign firms may export less and do more foreign direct investment, inducing trade in jobs.     

Gender,Decent Work,and Global Production Sharing in Indonesian Manufacturing

Abstract:

Global commodity chains reflect and affect gendered labor markets. This article uses the Decent Work framework from the International Labour Organization to analyze employment outcomes for Indonesian workers in manufacturing. This research investigates trends in feminized manufacturing sectors in variously sized firms. Regression analyses is used to evaluate how firm characteristics related to global production sharing effect decent work outcomes for women and men, as well as female share of employment itself. The results suggest that exports and FDI affect men and women differently and that feminization and decent work outcomes depend on how the sector is positioned along the global value chain.     

自贸区背景下海南现代物流与对外贸易耦合量化研究

从“海南自贸区(港)建设”战略、链接国家“一带一路”倡议视角出发,建立海南现代物流与对外贸易指标评估体系,根据协调发展度模型对海南2009-2018年现代物流和对外贸易发展的协调性进行测评。结果显示:海南现代物流综合发展指数高于对外贸易综合发展指数,海南对外贸易发展滞后于现代物流发展;海南现代物流与对外贸易发展逐渐呈协调发展趋势,二者协调发展水平不断提高。在此基础上提出强化国际物流协同建设、拓展对外贸易新业态与新模式等促进海南现代物流与对外贸易协调发展的建议。     

Unraveling the interplay of review depth,review breadth,and review language style on review usefulness and review adoption

To examine whether long reviews are uniformly more useful to readers, this study utilizes the experimental design approach to investigate the interplay of review depth, review breadth, and review language style on readers’ perceived usefulness and adoption intention of online hotel reviews. Drawing on the results from two experiments, review depth is proven to exert a positive impact on readers’ review usefulness and adoption intention. The moderating role of review breadth is verified, and the positive effect of review depth on review usefulness is attenuated (accentuated) when review breadth is high (low). The moderating role of review language style is also confirmed, and the result shows longer reviews written in literal language are considered more useful to readers than those written in figurative language. Being one of the first studies examining the interplay of review content and review style on review usefulness, this study provides important theoretical and practical contributions.     

Picking cherries or lemons: A unified theory of cross‐border mergers and acquisitions

This article provides a theoretical framework that enhances understanding of empirical evidence suggesting that international mergers and acquisitions, a key source of foreign direct investment, seemingly target in‐country firms that are at the extremes of the productivity spectrum—either high‐productivity firms, so‐called cherries, or low‐productivity firms, the “lemons.” The framework demonstrates that foreign firms with intermediate inputs seek high‐productivity domestic firms, while foreign firms with managerial expertise seek low‐productivity domestic firms. We also show that because of the difference in available outside options, high‐productivity domestic firms can demand a significantly higher portion of profits in the partnership than low‐productivity domestic firms.