The effect of knowledge complexity on the performance of franchise systems in the service industries: an empirical study

The literature of knowledge transfer studies complexity as a knowledge characteristic which influences organisations’ performance since it hinders this process. However, complex knowledge is richer and more complete and its influence on performance may be positive. So, the purpose of this study is to analyse the influence of knowledge complexity on the performance of franchise systems in the service industries. With this aim, a linear regression analysis is conducted on a sample of franchisee of different franchise chains of the several service industries operating in Spain. The findings seem to indicate that complexity has a positive impact on the performance of franchise systems.     

Survival of new firms in the Brazilian franchising segment: an empirical study

This paper investigates the survival patterns of Brazilian franchising firms for the period 1994–1999. First, we considered the (percentage) survival of newly created franchisors in the following years. Survival functions were obtained by means of the Kaplan–Meier estimator for the selected sectors and they indicated sharp declines in the survival rates over time but with differential patterns across sectors. Finally, an econometric analysis based on the Cox proportional hazard model considered the explanatory variables pertaining to size, age and support regarding the legal aspects, location choice and training. The evidence indicates that the supports provided by the franchisor have a positive impact on the probability of survival of new firms, whereas there is partial evidence favoring a positive effect of firm size on survival.     

The framing effect of coupon value for new products: an empirical study in China

Two experiments tested the coupon framing effect with both existing products and new products, whereby the percentage-off format (vs. cents-off format) held an overall advantage in consumers' value perception, thus leading to higher purchase intention. We also found that different product price levels (high vs. low) and product types (physical goods vs. services) moderated this framing effect. Moreover, the context of new products' purchase significantly made this effect more salient than that in existing products. These results could contribute to the guidance of price and promotion strategy for business practitioners, especially in new product launch management.     

The influence of customer loyalty on small island economies: an empirical and exploratory study

There is growing consensus that companies' long-term success is reliant on building and sustaining strong customer relationships. This study explores the antecedents of loyalty in business to business (B2Bs) using Guernsey's telecommunication industry as a case study. It examines how these influence customer loyalty orientation and factors that help service providers improve loyalty rates. Extant literature pays little attention to the antecedents of loyalty in small island economies. Prior research focuses on cultural, environmental and macro-economic issues. Drawing on Dick and Basu's (Customer loyalty: Toward an integrated conceptual framework. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 22(Spring), 99–113, 1994) loyalty model, this research explores loyalty antecedents that are cognisant of distinct market conditions that can impact customer loyalty within the telecommunications sector of a small island economy. It seeks to advance understanding of loyalty in B2B relationships in this context and identify factors that contribute towards converting passively loyal customers to being actively loyal customers.     

Charting the pacific: an empirical assessment of integration initiatives

Trade negotiations after Uruguay may well be dominated by the Pacific Rim, where two free trade areas (ASEAN Free Trade Agreement, or AFTA; and North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA) already exist and larger agreements are under active discussion (involving the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation, or APEC, area and an East Asian Economic Group). This article analyzes several initiatives using a simple global general equilibrium model that incorporates conventional welfare gains as well as benefits derived from firm level economies of scale, induced changes in foreign investment, and dynamic increases in productivity. Broad Pacific liberalization—i.e., East Asia, North America, and Australasia—is shown to be superior for each participant to liberalization limited to individual countries or East Asia, but not by much. Most favored nation liberalization is shown to be superior for each participant to preferential liberalization—if the actor is East Asia, but not the Pacific as a whole. These estimates will need to be refined, but they suggest that the benefits from Pacific liberalization could exceed $100 billion per year.     

The path to Project Darwin: The evolution of the AMP's organisational structure

Demutualisation became a global trend amongst financial sector firms in the last two decades of the twentieth century. Changes to the organisational foundations of mutual firms represented a shift in operational cultures and have often been viewed as an end point or demise of the co-operative business model. It is the intention of this article to investigate the extent to which this was the case within a major mutual institution, the Australian Mutual Provident, Australia's oldest and largest mutual insurer. The article's key argument is that the concept of mutuality is organic, and that within this organisation it evolved as the structure of the firm became more sophisticated as it developed from a supplier of life insurance products into a sophisticated financial services provider, which ultimately generated internal pressures to demutualise.     

Organizational context and knowledge acquisition in IJVs: An empirical study

This article investigates the impact of organizational context on the acquisition of explicit and tacit marketing know-how from foreign partners in an IJV. A structural equation model is developed and tested using survey data from 219 IJVs in Vietnam. The organizational factors investigated include management commitment, teamwork, relationship strength and cultural distance. The results show that these factors have different effects on explicit and tacit learning.     

The influence of organisational context on training success in the restaurant industry

Training plays a basic role in restaurants' success by improving the service quality provided by employees. The aim of this paper is to analyse how contextual factors, such as supervisors' support, resources' availability, opportunity to use training content, and organisational learning culture, influence training success. To that end, an empirical study was conducted on 137 restaurants. Results show that training success depends on the trainee's opportunities to use training content. Those opportunities are influenced by the resources' availability, as well as by the supervisors' support. The organisational learning culture influences training success through the resources' availability and supervisors' support.     

The organisational structure of Spanish New Settlements in the eighteenth century

This paper analyses the organisational design of New Settlements (NS) of Sierra Morena, a Spanish farming and colonist project of the eighteenth century. Using archival data, historical facts during the period 1767–1772 are identified, collected and examined to understand how these settlements were structured. The reconstructions of their practices demonstrated that, in the eighteenth century, organisations already had the disciplinary techniques and dimensions of Weber's rational-legal bureaucracy. In fact, we observed the evolution of NS through three different organisational structures (configurations) to become more effective – rational – over time. This comprehensive analysis also provides evidence of how the colonies' growth (and their organisational complexity) implied changes to the co-ordination mechanisms used.     

The institutional environment and the number of bank relationships: an empirical analysis of European SMEs

This article examines the association between creditor protection, as measured by the nature of legal rules and the quality of law enforcement, and multiple bank relationships using a unique survey sample of SMEs from 19 European countries. We find that the likelihood of multiple banking is the highest for SMEs in French-civil-law countries, next highest for German-civil-law countries, and the lowest in Scandinavian-civil-law and English-common-law countries. We also find that SMEs in countries with low legal efficiency are more likely to establish multiple bank relationships. These results seems to confirm the underlying idea in the law and finance literature that relevant loan risk for banks also arises from low quality of laws and institutions and not just from firm-specific characteristics. Banks in countries where protection of creditor rights is poor may resort to multiple banking to share this additional risk. Policy makers can use our findings to justify the necessity of improving their institutions by reducing legal formalisms and thereby, lowering the enforcement costs in the courts. This would lead to better loan contracting and enhance the flow of debt capital, which is required for a healthy and dynamic economy.     

The impact of organisational structure and practices on learning in the workplace

The main thrust of the research effort into workplace learning has been to identify the characteristics of workplace learning as experienced by the learner. The impact of the wider organisational process in which that learning is embedded have been played down. This paper, building on the work of Koike and Darrah, uses research conducted in a major multinational corporation (MNC) in South‐East Asia, to explore the impact of the wider organisational structures on the process of learning. The model it develops not only shows how these processes impact on workplace learning but also helps explain why workers acquire different levels of skill.     

The influence of demand factors on dynamic competitive pricing strategy: An empirical study

This empirical paper investigates the relationship between the dynamic strategic interactions among competitors in a component market and demand factors in the market for the end product. The structure of competition in the US microprocessor (MPU) industry is analyzed using data on prices and sales in both the MPU market as well as the market for personal computers. The pattern of dynamic strategic interaction between competing firms in this market on a key decision variable, price is studied. Non-nested model comparison tests based on equilibrium solutions derived for specific differential games are applied to identify the mode of competitive strategy between pairs of competing brands. The empirical fit to the longitudinal and cross-sectional data, of alternative models of competition, independent (Bertrand?CNash), Stackelberg leader?Cfollower, and Collusion, is used to determine which dynamic model best describes actual competitive behavior over the life of each MPU. Demand for the product market which is downstream from microprocessors, that for personal computers, is estimated using a generalized diffusion model with price effects. Data from the markets for desktop and laptop computers are analyzed at the level of computer vendor and internal microprocessor. Patterns are uncovered, linking downstream demand parameters with upstream competitive strategy. There is evidence to suggest that when there are strong diffusion effects driving sales of both the competing computer brands, there is a higher likelihood of Bertrand?CNash competition among MPU firms. However, when there are higher cross-price effects (substitutability) among personal computer brands there is a greater chance of Stackelberg leader?Cfollower price competition. When self-price effects are relatively high, the likelihood of Bertrand?CNash competition among MPU firms increases. Furthermore, when the potential demand for the computer product category is high, there is a higher likelihood of Bertrand?CNash pricing in the MPU market.     

The benefits of e-business adoption: an empirical study of Swedish SMEs

The global nature of business today and the advances in information and communications technologies have compelled corporations to employ emerging technologies in order to remain competitive. In recent years electronic business has been adopted by many corporations to improve operational efficiency, profitability, and to strengthen their competitive position. This study examines the impact of web-based e-business on the small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) in Sweden. The analyses of data collected for this study provide valuable information to the executives of manufacturing and service SMEs. The findings show that the SMEs in the sample have benefited from e-business implementation in both operational and performance areas of their organization.     

Trade disputes and the implementation of protection under the GATT: an empirical assessment

This paper is a first attempt to empirically determine why countries choose to violate or adhere to GATT rules when making trade policy adjustments between negotiating rounds. We use a previously unexploited set of data in which countries implemented two ‘types’ of protection under the GATT system between 1973 and 1994: (i) ‘legal’ protection in which countries utilized the GATT’s safeguards provisions; and (ii) ‘illegal’ protection in which the protection was provided outside of the safeguards provisions, resulting in a formal trade dispute. We find substantial evidence that concerns for retaliation affect government policy decisions in ways which contribute to the explanation of the existence of trade disputes.     

地区就业率与产业结构关系的实证分析

本文利用2008年国民经济核算和就业人数的各项统计数据,建立了地区就业率与产业结构的关系图表;借助计量经济学的最小二乘法,建立各地区就业率以及三次产值比重结构的实证模型,动态的研究了三次产业所占GDP产值比重对我国产业结构的影响,最终得出:地区第一产业所占GDP的比重对我国地区就业率有负影响,第三产业所占GDP比重对我国地区就业率有显著的积极影响,并提出了相关政策建议.     

An empirical study of the purchase role structure in Korean families

The primary purpose of this research is to measure spousal influence in family decision-making situations in South Korea. Five thousand five hundred responses were collected nationwide, from a spectrum of age groups and from both genders. The (categorical) data were subjected to analysis by chi square and inspection of gamma values, by simple frequencies, and then by correspondent analysis. Results were consistent with expectations, in that it seems that the strong, cultural tradition of patriarchal dominance is overriding the increasing levels of economic development that might have been expected to lead to far higher levels of shared decision making between spouses. However, children, as well as women, do appear to have an increasing influence in family purchase decisions. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Charismatic leadership in IT firms in Taiwan: an empirical study

This study aims to look at charismatic leadership and management innovation in a sample of Information Technology firms in Taiwan. The literature on such leadership was examined because it reveals how leaders serve as key agents who stimulate others with their vision of the potential of an innovation. Theoretically, we suggest that charismatic leadership behaviour can help management innovation but only when certain conditions are met. Empirically, we find that charismatic leaders must create a higher level of trust in their subordinates at all levels of the organizational hierarchy, based on common perceptions of the firm as a trustworthy entity.     

Exchange rate policies in Asia in an era of financial globalisation: An empirical assessment

Ebbs and flows of capital have complicated macroeconomic policy management for all emerging market and developing economies (EMDEs) regardless of whether they have adopted flexible or managed exchange rate regimes. In the light of the renewed interest in the trilemma versus dilemma debate, we contribute to the related literature by presenting an empirical analysis of exchange rate flexibility and intervention for selected Asian EMDEs over the time period 2001–2016. In addition to estimating augmented Frankel–Wei regressions, we employ a generalised auto‐regressive conditional heteroscedasticity (GARCH) model to assess the extent of foreign exchange (FX) intervention and whether there exist any asymmetries in the way countries intervene. Our results show that although there is greater flexibility in exchange rates, there is evidence of some countries potentially using FX intervention to manage currency movements. We also find evidence of asymmetry in intervention where exchange rate volatility responds more emphatically to FX sales than purchases.