Environmental sustainability practices and exports: The interplay of strategy and institutions in Latin America

We integrate institutional economics with stakeholder theory to examine the antecedents and outcomes of Environmental Sustainability Practices (ESP) for small and medium enterprises in Latin America. We find that these firms primarily engage in ESP to succeed in export markets. We also find that this is especially true when firms demonstrate organizational agency by adopting complementary strategies such as obtaining international quality certifications to develop credibility among stakeholders. Lastly, their cause receives a further boost when they are based in institutional environments that are known for strong democratic voice and accountability mechanisms. In elucidating the interplay of strategy and institutions, we suggest the need to better integrate organizational agency into institutional theory and institutional environment into stakeholder theory.     

中小银行特色化发展战略研究

本文从中小银行特色化发展涵义界定入手,利用2005-2009年的金融数据分析了中小银行法人机构数目、就业人员、总资产、总负债、税后盈利五个方面的发展状况,并剖析了内在成因,在此基础上提出了从市场定位、产品结构、服务体系、企业文化、联盟战略方面来构建中小银行特色化发展战略,以支持中小银行健康发展.     

The role of information technology in corporate strategy of small and medium enterprises

The crisis of the new economy might have cast doubt on the usefulness of the Internet for business activities. However, it is unquestionable that the possibilities offered by Internet-based technologies in terms of information processing, transfer and collection enable the firm to improve market knowledge and the relationship with clients and suppliers. This work explores, theoretically and empirically, the possibilities offered by the Internet to facilitate the internationalization process of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) as well as to improve the relationship with other firms within the same value chain. Using a wide representative sample of Spanish SMEs, the empirical analysis confirms the benefits of the Internet in both cases.     

中小企业战略选择的原则及模式

<正> 目前我国中小企业已超过800万家,占全国企业总数的99%,其工业总产值及实现的利税分别占总值的60%和40%,提供了75%的城镇就业机会,贡献了60%的出口额。因此有专家预言,未来中国经济的竞争力将取决于中小企业的发展。但不断变化的环境将     

Geography,knowledge spillovers and small firms’ exports: an empirical examination for The Netherlands

This study examines the impact of external and internal scale economies on the decision to start exporting and the level of exports of innovating firms. Based on new trade theory, increasing returns to scale—both internal and external scale economies—are considered an important source of comparative and competitive advantage. The empirical analysis of (small) innovating firms in The Netherlands leads to two main findings. First, firms that are located in technical Marshallian clusters seem less inclined to become exporters. Availability of technical knowledge alone does not help to reduce entry costs that come with the decision to export and/or marketing and sales costs in order to achieve a higher export performance. Second, firms that experience difficulties in appropriating innovation rents due to labour poaching also seem to be less inclined to become exporters. The explanation for this second finding is the importance of outgoing knowledge spillovers, which is particularly relevant for small, product innovating firms. This reduces their probability to export. However, if firms export, the knowledge leaking argument is not valid for the export performance of the firm.     

"复制"意大利中小企业

中国中小企业是否可以从素有"中小企业王国"之称的意大利中小企业的发展找到适合自己的"轨迹"呢?ASK工程有限公司是一家意资企业     

中小企业财务战略运用与实施的探索

我国中小企业在财务管理方面存在的问题,主要是财务管理基础薄弱,财务控制松散;企业资金积累能力较弱,营运资金缺乏;资本结构不合理,负债率较高;内源融资困难,外部融资渠道不畅;投资缺乏分析论证;成本管理和控制体系不健全等。中小企业应把“财务战略”的思想运用到企业的管理中去,从加强财务管理基础工作入手,提升企业财务管理层次要充分考虑企业实际,科学规划营运资金;切实优化资本结构;规范制度,控制成本;完善分配激励制度,从而保证企业健康发展。     

CEO gender,institutional context and firm exports

To what extent does the gender of Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) matter in the relationship between home country corruption and firm exports? Drawing on post-structural feminist and institutional theories, we employ self-reported micro-level and cross-country data from 4714 firms in 75 countries during 2008-2015 to examine how differences in institutional contexts affect firms exports in men- and women-led firms. We find that pervasive and arbitrary corruption types have different effects on firm exports, and that female CEOs mitigate the effects of corruption in two distinct ways. Our results contribute to institutional and post-structural feminist literature, and are robust when controlling for economic development and the quality of gender institutional characteristics. Our study suggests that female CEOs in developing and emerging economies will be less vulnerable to predictably-corrupt institutions than to uncertain institutions.     

Technological,management, and persistent innovation in small and medium family firms: The influence of professionalism

We examine the effect of professional management on innovation in family‐owned firms. Since professionalism is a critical but controversial issue that can influence the innovative capacity of family businesses, we aim to determine if professional management improves innovation outcomes from a comprehensive perspective. Using a sample of 583 Spanish family firms, we demonstrate that professionalism in management exerts a positive influence on innovation from both technological (product and process innovation) and management perspectives. We also find that firms managed by external professionals are willing to develop higher innovative activity and that professionalism contributes positively to persistent innovation. Copyright © 2016 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A tale of three cities: Large,medium, and small consumer markets compared

In what size consumer markets does the consumer fare best — those of large, medium-sized, or small cities/towns? This is the general question that this article seeks to answer through analysis of price-quality data pertaining to Minneapolis (a large city), Ann Arbor, MI, and Ithaca, NY (a small town). While differences were smaller than expected, limited evidence from this pilot study support the notion that small markets are most efficient. At the same time the analysis confirms others' findings that most consumer markets are chaotic.     

Credit rationing and firm exports: Microeconomic evidence from small and medium‐sized enterprises in China

This paper examines the effect of credit rationing on export performance by small and medium‐sized firms in China. We use a detailed firm‐level data provided by the Small and Medium‐sized Enterprises Dynamic Survey (SMEDS) during 2015–16 to conduct this analysis. The SMEDS provides firm‐specific measures of credit rationing based directly on firm‐level responses to the survey rather than indirect ones, based on firm‐level financial statements. We find that, at the extensive margin, weak and strong credit rationing reduces export probability of small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) by 15.1% and 39.6%, respectively. At the intensive margin, they decrease SMEs' export values by more than 20.0% and over 28.8%, respectively. Different than existing literature, we construct valid firm‐level instruments, firm‐level housing stock, for credit rationing rather than using province‐level instruments. We also employ county‐industry‐level instruments and obtain consistent estimates. In addition, credit rationing exhibits heterogeneous impacts on firms with different liquidity ratios, product portfolios, external collateral and capital utilisation rates.     

Firm-level volatility and exports

This paper shows that the share of exports in the total sales of a firm has a positive and substantial impact on the volatility of its sales. Decomposing the volatility of sales of exporters between their domestic and export markets, I show using an identification strategy based on a firm-specific geographical instrument that firms with a larger export share have more volatile domestic sales and less volatile exports. These empirical patterns can be explained using a model in which firms face market-specific shocks and short-run convex costs of production. In such a framework, firms react to a shock in one market by adjusting their sales in the other market. I point to strong evidence that output variations on the domestic and export market are negatively correlated at the firm level. This result casts doubts on the standard hypothesis that firms face constant marginal costs and maximize profits on their different markets independently of each other. Furthermore, it points to the caveat that sales volatility on a particular market only gives limited information about the size of shocks on that market.     

小企业成功的经营谋略

从数量上讲,中国有99%的企业都是中小企业,甚至所谓的大企业相对国外大牌企业也只能算是中小企业。现在,国外很多公司已瞄准中国这块沃土,开始狂轰乱炸式的进攻。面对这种情况,那些规模小、抗风险能力差的小企业该怎么办?他们需要重新思量,灵活选择经营谋略。一、企业经营者要定好位一个企业成败的80%决定于该企业的领头人,尤其是那些小企业。企业经营者首先要对自己的企业有清醒的认识,给自己定好位:是要做市场的领导者还是做市场的跟进者?接下来才能制定战略、策略。定位不准,再精彩的战略和策略都只能加速你的灭亡。当前我们有一些小企业…     

Entrepreneurial strategy and the presence of small firms

A model is presented hypothesizing that the level of small-firm presence in any given industry emanates from the exogenous stock of entrepreneurial talent, a stochastic element of managerial and entrepreneurial talent, entry deterrence, and the entrepreneurial strategy deployed by small firms. Using data newly released by the U.S. Small Business Administration, the hypothesis is tested for a sample of 247 four-digit standard industrial classification industries, spanning the entire spectrum of firm sizes. We find that, consistently for all the measures of small-firm size and for all of the time periods used, the existence of entry deterrence and reliance upon innovative strategy explains a significant proportion of the variation in the presence of small firms.     

中小企业融资的12种方式

综合授信.即银行对一些经营状况好,信用可靠的企业,授予一定时期内一定金额的信贷额度,企业在有效期与额度范围内可以循环使用.综合授信额度由企业一次性申报有关材料,银行一次性审批.企业可以根据自己的营运情况分期用款,随借随还,企业借款十分方便,同时也节约了融资成本.银行采用这种方式提供贷款,一般是对有工商登记、年检合格、管理有方、信誉可靠、同银行有较长期合作关系的企业.     

Entrepreneurial orientation,commitment to the Internet and export performance in small and medium sized exporting firms

This paper investigates links between entrepreneurial orientation, commitment to the Internet and export performance in small and medium sized firms. The central argument is that entrepreneurs are more likely to use the Internet to develop export market opportunities, and to have better export performance than less entrepreneurial firms. In testing this proposition, a measure of ‘commitment to the Internet’ was developed and used in a mail survey of UK exporters. The results show that firms with high entrepreneurial orientation are more committed to the Internet and have better export performance than firms with low entrepreneurial orientation.     

Environmental management,nonmarket strategy,and firm performance in emerging markets: The case of ISO 14001

Firms use environmental management standards such as ISO 14001 to reduce the impact of business activity on the natural environment. Though these standards are widely celebrated on moral and ethical grounds, their implication for financial performance and competitiveness is equivocal. Drawing on neo-institutional theory, we conceptualize ISO 14001 as a nonmarket strategy and examine its impact on firm performance within the contexts of three highly polluted emerging markets – China, India, and Pakistan. Employing a rigorous event-study approach, we find that ISO 14001 certification has a negative impact on firms’ operating profitability and market value in both short and long runs. This negative impact appears to be stronger in contexts with weak institutions and poor environmental protection regimes. Further multivariate analyses show that the negative impact of ISO 14001 on firm performance is weaker among socially responsible firms and stronger among politically connected firms. These findings contribute to the environmental management literature. They also have practical implications for managers.     

Offshoring strategy: Motives,functions, locations,and governance modes of small,medium-sized and large firms

How does firm size impact on a firm's offshoring strategy? Are the underlying motives for offshoring, the particular functions considered, the locations to relocate, and the particular governance mode different for small, medium-sized and large firms? In this paper, cost, resource and entrepreneurial drivers are investigated for their relationship with firm size. Moreover, we hypothesize on the relationship between function, location and governance mode choices of offshoring and firm size. Using multi-country data of the Offshoring Research Network (ORN), we present empirical evidence on the three offshoring driver categories and function, location and governance mode choices of small, medium-sized and large firms. The results show offshoring might be used as cost, resource or entrepreneurial strategy. Cost drivers are most important for large and small firms, whereas resource drivers are especially important for medium-sized and large firms. Entrepreneurial drivers are most important for medium-sized firms, just like these firms have a relatively stronger preference for nearshoring. Small firms mostly offshore competence exploring activities, whereas large firms relocate competence exploiting activities.     

China＇s textile, apparel exports up 17% in first haif of 2007

China＇s textile and apparel exports jumped to USS 73.5 billion in the first half of 2007,up 17.47% from the same period last year, the nation＇s top economic planning agency said recently.[第一段]