Indian business groups: Evolution and transformation

Business groups are an important constituent of many emerging economies. In this paper, we focus on the evolution and transformation of Indian business groups (IBGs) over two economic eras — pre-reform era (pre 1991) and reform era (post 1991). To this end, we analyze IBG behavior during these periods, and explain the implications of such behavior on IBG value creation. Our conceptualization of IBG dynamics utilizes the perspectives of product relatedness and institutional relatedness, and undertakes a broad review of the extant literature.

The role of family management and family ownership in diversification: The case of family business groups

This study undertook a panel data analysis of the top 100 family business groups in Taiwan between the years 1988 and 2002 to investigate the role of family management and family ownership structures in diversification using an agency theory approach. The results show that, in the institutional context under study, family management and family ownership play key roles in diversification decisions in family business groups. Specifically, the likelihood of diversification declines as a controlling family assigns more family members to an affiliate firm’s key leadership positions. In contrast, the level of diversification increases as the degree of pyramidal ownership structure increases. The research findings presented in this study (1) clarify the roles that family management and the pyramidal ownership structure play in the diversification decisions of family business groups and (2) provide insights into family business groups’ growth.     

Shock-imprinting: External shocks and ethnic Chinese business groups in Indonesia

This paper examines the effect of external shocks on corporate strategy of ethnic Chinese business groups in the context of Indonesia. It reports on an in-depth, longitudinal, and comparative case study of four prominent Indonesian Chinese groups, all of which implemented major strategic changes in response to the Asian financial crisis. As theories emphasizing strategic continuity and strategic adaptation are only partially able to explain the results, an alternative explanation is offered. Results are generalized towards a novel notion of “shock-imprinting” which implies that companies continue to employ defensive strategies after an external shock has subsided.     

Expatriate management succession in foreign business subsidiaries

In most foreign subsidiaries, expatriate top managers are routinely exchanged after a certain period of time. The handing over procedure between the expatriate predecessor manager and his successor has attracted very little academic research. A proper succession ensures continuity and the accumulation of experience in the foreign operation. Our sample includes expatriate business managers employed by companies from Australia, Germany, Holland and Italy assigned to Hong Kong. A mail questionnaire is used to collect the information, and this investigation is a direct extension of a previous exploratory study undertaken by one of the authors. The main issue in this paper is to investigate the duration of the overlap period at the foreign subsidiary. This dependent variable is related to three sets of independent variables: personal, corporate and subsidiary characteristics.Dr Jan Selmer is Reader and Head, Department of Management, and Mrs Vivienne Luk is Senior Lecturer and BBA (Hons.) Degree Course Leader, both at the School of Business, Hong Kong Baptist University. The authors gratefully acknowledge the helpful comments and suggestions of two anonymous reviewers as well as the Chief Editor on earlier versions of this paper. The research was supported by a Faculty Research Grant from Hong Kong Baptist University.     

Context-bridging and context-embedded experience: Growth drivers of emerging economy business groups

This study examines emerging economy business groups’ growth directions during institutional change. Building on Penrose’s Theory of Growth of the Firm, we explore managerial resources as foundations for growth. Specifically, we argue that their growth directions are critically shaped by the nature of managerial experience of business groups. Experience that is context-embedded supports growth within the existing strategic paradigm, whereas context-bridging experience enables international growth. We test hypotheses derived from this theoretical argument for business groups in Taiwan, and find empirical support for our arguments.

     

Estimating the performance effects of business groups in emerging markets

Business groups—confederations of legally independent firms—are ubiquitous in emerging economies, yet very little is known about their effects on the performance of affiliated firms. We conceive of business groups as responses to market failures and high transaction costs. In doing so, we develop hypotheses about the effects of group affiliation on firm profitability: affiliation could either boost or depress firm profitability, and members of a group are likely to earn rates of return similar to other members of the same group. Using a unique data set compiled largely from local sources, we test for these effects in 14 emerging markets: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, India, Indonesia, Israel, Mexico, Peru, the Philippines, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Turkey. We find evidence that business groups indeed affect the broad patterns of economic performance in 12 of the markets we examine. Group affiliation appears to have as profound an effect on profitability as does industry membership, yet strategy scholars have a much clearer grasp of industries than of groups. Moreover, membership in a group raises the profitability of the average group member in several of the markets we examine. This runs contrary to the wisdom, conventional in advanced economies, that unrelated diversification depresses profitability. Overall, our findings suggest that the roots of sustained differences in profitability may vary across institutional contexts; conclusions drawn in one context may well not apply to another. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A review of foreign business management in China

This study reviews the research on foreign business management in China and analyzes 193 articles published in English in 13 academic journals between 1980 and 2008. The studies were classified based on the type of research, the main topic, and the methods employed. The studies were then mapped and their key research findings and conclusions were highlighted. A three-stage model of market transition was developed to contextualize the work, and this helps explain the shifting focuses in the literature and identify directions for future research.     

Temporality in business networks: The role of narratives and management technologies

This paper addresses the nature of temporality in business networks. Approaches to temporality generally employ a dualistic approach: time can be understood as social and natural, tensed and untensed, subjective and objective, kairos or chronos, agency and structure. We examine these two approaches and suggest that the problem for situated actors is how to cope with and negotiate with these dualities. This is particularly salient in cases of innovation, when actors attempt to bring about their particular versions of the future facing acute problems of uncertainty. The innovation literature highlights the role of narrative in helping actors to negotiate uncertainty and construct spaces for action in a world of continuous flow. The emphasis on narrative tends to obscure the role of management technologies in anchoring narratives into existing routines and procedures as well as relate these technologies to the untensed world of chronos. Management technologies help stabilise entities and relationship amongst entities in what otherwise is a chaotic world of events and flux.     

儒家思想在现代企业管理中的现实意义

本文通过论述儒家思想在现代企业的运用,进一步论证了传统的优秀文化在现代企业管理中的积极意义。     

Interaction behaviors in business relationships and heuristics: Issues for management and research agenda

Various empirical studies have evidenced that interaction is a critical process in the development of buyer–seller relationships in business-to-business markets. Research examining the different aspects of interaction processes and the consequences of interaction in business relationships for the development of the businesses involved has tended to black-box the interaction process. Limited attention has been given to how interaction behaviors of individuals arise and the interplay between cognition and behaviors in interaction. At the same time, recent research offers some insights into the use and role of heuristics in contexts analogous to those individual actors face when they interact in business relationships. In this paper we review current research on interaction processes in business relationships as well as on heuristics in the management context and argue that focusing on heuristics used in interaction in business relationships offers valuable insights on how interaction behaviors emerge. In particular, we discuss the notion of heuristics as an “adaptive toolbox,” and how it relates to adaptations in business relationships. We also discuss implications for management and outline a future research agenda.     

A solution business model: Capabilities and management practices for integrated solutions

The developed solution business model framework assists firms wishing to design solution business models by categorizing capabilities and management practices necessary for the effective management of such a business model. The developed framework integrates findings from a wide variety of research streams with the empirical data collected in an abductive research process, involving ten firms with multi-national operations. The framework consist of a solution process with four phases (develop solutions, create demand, sell solution, and deliver solution) and three groups of cross-functionality issues (commercialization, industrialization, and solution platform). The framework identifies twelve capability categories, and sixty-four capabilities and management practices pertinent to the effective management of solution business. The research points to the importance of cross-functional alignment within firms. An effective solution business model requires the intricate coordination of resources and business processes across all functions.     

Testing management theories: critical realist philosophy and research methods

This study identifies the practical and philosophical difficulties associated with testing strategic management and organization theories. Working from a critical realist perspective, we affirm the importance of falsification and verification efforts for progress in theory development. We advocate a four‐step approach for advancing theory testing that prioritizes identifying and testing for the presence and effects of hypothesized causal mechanisms, rather than solely focusing on correlational methods to jointly test the set of effects composing a theoretical system. Going beyond prior critical realist writings, we provide practical guidance for deploying established research methods to test management theories. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Internal organisation, business groups and corporate performance : An empirical test of the multidivisional hypothesis in Japan

The paper explores the relationship between business groups, ownership structure, and internal organisation in a sample of Japanese enterprises. Empirical data confirms an association between organisational structure and diversified business strategy that has been found elsewhere. However, as in previous work on West Germany but not the USA and Britain, no significant relationship between M-form organisation and financial performance is detected.     

方钢管混凝土边框柱组合剪力墙关键性连接点剪力计算

针对方钢管混凝土边框柱组合剪力墙墙柱连接点处的抗剪键现无设计依据的问题,从构件整体性着手研究,建立合理的简化计算模型,借助弹性力学,分析其在水平荷载作用下墙柱连接点处的应力分布情况并导出剪力计算公式。通过与ANSYS有限元模型计算结果对比,验证了公式计算结果的正确性。     

Managerial ties, control and deregulation: An investigation of business groups entering the deregulated banking industry in Taiwan

This study investigates the determinants of business groups’ entry to the deregulated banking industry in Taiwan, from the perspectives of social capital and agency theory. The principal objective of deregulation is to increase the efficiency of resource utilization by introducing competition. However, the opportunities inherent in deregulation may induce a battle of strengths among interested business groups. Based on secondary data analysis, this study reveals that the managerial ties possessed by key individuals in a business group, and the degree of overlapping investment between the owner-managers, influences the likelihood of whether or not a business group will decide to enter the deregulated banking industry. The results of this study provide a valuable starting point from which to discuss the influence of internal and external personal networks on business strategy during a time of deregulation.

Adoption of professional management in Chinese family business: A multilevel analysis of impetuses and impediments

Building upon the market, institutional, and cultural perspectives, this paper identifies the major impetuses and impediments that affect the professionalization of Chinese family business at the environment, firm, and owner levels. Our integrative framework projects that whether a family business owner will adopt professional managers is largely determined by the relative strength of impetus factors and impediment factors. We then discuss the possible governance choices under different configuration of impetuses and impediments. This theoretical framework is expected to help set the momentum for further conceptual exploration and empirical study in this area.

Research trajectories of Service-Dominant Logic: Emergent themes of a unifying paradigm in business and management

We describe the research trajectories associated with S-D Logic and the scholarly activity it encompasses across a breadth of disciplines by conducting a bibliometric analysis of a body of literature citing two fundamental S-D Logic publications between 2004–2014. The bibliometric analysis reveals four pertinent research trajectories: Value co-creation, Resources (incl. integration), Brands, and Innovation. These empirical findings are supported by qualitative insights and projections obtained from structured interviews with S-D Logic scholars using the Delphi method, which identifies ten research trajectories: Actors, Context, Innovation, Institutions, Markets, Resources, Service, Systems, Value co-creation, and Value propositions. The main tenets, relevant literature, and syntheses of research questions for the aforementioned research trajectories are provided. Results indicate that the scientific community is evaluating fundamental ontological and epistemological questions of S-D Logic. Emergent themes (complex and fractal phenomena, generic conceptualizations, technological innovation and democratization processes, and institutionalization practices) are discussed. The results provide insight into the development of paradigms in the managerial sciences. The delineation of the paradigm's thematic boundaries, its emergent themes, and identification of central research trajectories informs an advanced understanding of the nature of economic exchange and value creation for both practitioners and the managerial sciences, thus aiding the transdisciplinary production of knowledge.     

Entry-timing,business groups and early-mover advantage within industry merger waves in emerging markets: A study of Indian firms

Merger waves are periods of intense and concentrated merger activity which exhibit a wave-like pattern. Drawing upon the resource-based view, we examine the timing of entry and early-mover advantage within merger waves. Following a robust simulation-based methodology of wave analysis, we identify merger waves in eight industries during the time period 2000–2014. Firms affiliated to business groups were found to be early movers. A higher degree of internationalization is also associated with early movement of a firm. Within business groups, their multi-entity character is positively associated with early entry whereas their board interlock was negatively related with entry-timing. Further, early moving acquirers reap superior post-acquisition performance, thereby suggesting that early-mover advantages exist within merger waves.