Cross-border relationships and performance: Revisiting a complex linkage

Existing export performance models do not explicitly address the role of the importer in achieving economic success. This research explores importer role performance as a mediator between relationship quality and export performance, and uncovers the darker side of cross-border relationships by showing that relationship quality has concomitant opposite effects on export performance. The findings augment the relational paradigm to export performance by the demonstrating the vital importance of the importer role and by discriminating and explaining the positive and negative influences of interfirm relationship quality. The study uses structural equations modeling with data from two random samples of French and Slovene exporters to test hypotheses.     

Skill and Performance

It is popular to assume that there is a link between skill and performance, yet the evidence is tenuous. Both terms defy simple definition and much current work aggregates findings, conflating firms that compete on the basis of skill with those that do not. This article provides a detailed review of the difficulties involved. Skill may indeed contribute to performance on the shop floor but the performance of the organization as a whole is not the same as that of the shop‐floor writ large, while soft skills are difficult to assess and judgments may be contaminated by prejudice. It concludes with suggestions for better research designs that could capture this relationship.     

Psychic distance in exporter–importer relationships: A grounded theory approach

Psychic distance is one of the most widely used, researched, and contentious constructs in the fields of international business and marketing. It has been applied to a variety of issues, often leading to inconsistent and conflicting results. In response to this problem, this study critically focuses on the construct of perceptual psychic distance and identifies the weaknesses and inconsistencies across major existing empirical studies regarding the conceptualization, operationalization, and measurement of psychic distance. We employ a grounded theory-based qualitative empirical study with export managers in French manufacturing companies to fill in the gaps identified in this evaluation, leading to a revised definition of psychic distance in the context of exporting. We discuss the major results and the limitations of the study, propose avenues for further research, and outline managerial implications for managing psychic distance in the internationalization strategy.     

Merger-Motivated IPOs

In this paper, we find support for initial public offerings (IPOs) motivated by subsequent acquisition activity. Over a third of newly public firms enter the market for corporate control as acquirers within three years of the IPO. We find that IPOs facilitate acquisitions in a number of ways. Newly public firms benefit from the cash raised in the IPO, from subsequent access to public financing, and from ability to pay with publicly traded stock for acquisitions. IPO firms also benefit by obtaining market feedback and by taking advantage of high post-IPO stock values in making stock-based acquisitions at favorable terms.     

Survival and dissolution of exporter relationships with importers: A longitudinal analysis

The primary purpose of this paper is to extend knowledge about the survival or dissolution of interorganizational exporter/importer relationships. Based on a conceptual framework, this paper presents a longitudinal analysis of data to explore the relationships between trust, economic performance and the outcome of survival/dissolution of a business-to-business relationship. In addition, two interactions are presented that involve business distance on the outcome of the survival/dissolution of a business-to-business relationship. The results show a significant positive relationship of both trust and economic performance on survival. Findings also reveal a significant negative interaction between business distance and trust on survival. Finally, there is only a marginally significant negative interaction between business distance and economic performance on survival.     

Does Cue competition reduce conditioned liking of brands and products?

The present studies investigated whether the visual co‐presentation of a brand name and a product visual increases or decreases the acquisition of liking toward these stimuli in a conditioning paradigm. In Study 1, participants were presented with an elemental brand name, an elemental product visual, or a compound of both stimuli, along with liked faces. Results indicated that the mere pairing with the liked face led to increased liking in the elemental condition, but not in the compound condition (i.e., cue competition). Study 2 showed that this effect is due to the divided attention toward the compound, but not due to competition among conditioned stimuli (CSs) to predict the unconditioned stimulus (US). © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Economic trends 1996/97: Slow recovery in the western industrialised countries

Economic trends 1996/97: Slow recovery in the western industrialised countries     

The Contribution of National Vocational Qualifications to the Growth of Skills in the UK

This article evaluates the British system of NVQs, focusing on their capacity to increase skill levels. It reviews the way NVQs were designed and argues that they are ill‐equipped to encourage knowledge and skills, partly because they simply replicate the weaknesses which currently exist in the labour market and partly because of the focus on observed workplace behaviours. NVQs were intended to be ‘employer‐led’ and the assumptions underpinning their design are unitarist. In contrast, the German apprenticeship system is developed and implemented by pluralist consortia and results in qualifications that are far better equipped to support skill levels.     

Privatisation in transition: the Czech experience

This article explores a stage in the capitalist transformation of the Czech Republic in early 1993. Three levels of change are examined: institutional developments in industrial relations; perceptions of change among union policy makers; and attitudes and experiences of managers and workers at workplace level.