The impact of cultural differences in U.S. business-to-business export marketing channel strategic alliances

Given slower growth and fierce competition in the domestic market, combined with increasing opportunities in many overseas markets, more and more U.S. companies are going international. While many doing so may initially use a direct exporting approach that relies on foreign channel members to distribute the product in the host country, over time, strategic alliances among distribution partners may form based on trust, commitment, and cooperation. For these alliances to succeed, the partners' perceptions of these variables need to be congruent so that expectations on each side of the dyad are reasonably similar. However, what happens when the cultural backgrounds of each channel partner are substantially different? This study empirically examines whether cultural differences do affect trust, commitment, and cooperation in international marketing channel alliances between U.S. exporters and their foreign distribution partners. Based on the survey responses from 149 U.S. exporters with marketing alliances abroad, cultural differences do affect trust, commitment, and cooperation. The greater the cultural differences between channel partners, the lower the levels of trust, commitment, and cooperation. Managerial implications are discussed, and study limitations are identified.     

Strategic alliances between large and small research intensive organizations: experiences in the biotechnology industry

Abstract
For many firms, entering into some form of collaborative arrangement with other organizations has become a necessary step towards improving their competitive positions. This is particularly true of research intensive companies which frequently participate in such strategic alliances (SAs). This paper reports on the experiences of some 70 North American firms with SAs in the biotechnology industry. The sample includes small dedicated biotechnology companies (DBCs) and large organizations, such as pharmaceutical firms.     

A theory of global strategic alliances: The case of the global auto industry

The theory articulated in this paper suggests that the desire to reduce demand and competitive uncertainty are two separate, important motives for alliance formation. Taking this as a starting point, we predict the configuration of horizontal alliances that we might expect to observe within an industry when firms experience these uncertainties to different degrees. An empirical test of this theory using data from the global auto industry yields results consistent with the view (1) that alliances are a device for reducing both the uncertainties that arise from unpredictable demand conditions and those that arise from competitive interdependence, and (2) that variation of demand uncertainty and competitive uncertainty across firms explains differentials in both the intensity and structure of their horizontal alliance activity.     

U.S. national security export controls: Implications for global competitiveness of U.S. high-tech firms

U.S. exporters of high-technology, ‘dual-use’ products are competitively disadvantaged in global markets by the complexity, range, and stringency of U.S. national security export controls. This paper demonstrates that fungibility of high technology and lax interpretation of multilateral export control agreements by other advanced countries have made the existing control regime ineffective. It further shows that persistent U.S. restrictiveness of exports in non-critical, widely available goods and technologies may needlessly and permanently erode U.S. firms' competitive position in existing as well as rapidly-opening markets worldwide. The need to revise the notion of national security to include not only military security, but also its complement, economic security, is discussed. The pivotal issue of enforceability of multilateral controls is explored, and corporate strategies for U.S. high-tech firms to achieve export control policy change are suggested.     

Testing for market power in the U.S. motor carrier industry

During the 1980's, researchers noted a trend towards increased concentration in the general freight, less-than-truckload (LTL) portion of the U.S. motor carrier industry. The purpose of this study is to employ new empirical industrial organization techniques to determine whether the more concentrated, post-1980, LTL industry exerted monopoly pricing behavior and to compare the nature of pricing behavior before and after regulation reform. The results suggest that the trend toward increased industry concentration does not imply anti-competitive performance. Also, the results indicate the presence of regulation-induced market power several years prior to regulation reform in 1980.     

The value of knowledge spillovers in the U.S. semiconductor industry

This paper aims at quantifying the economic value of knowledge spillovers by exploring information contained in patent citations. We estimate a market valuation equation of the U.S. semiconductor firms during the 1980s and 1990s, and find an average value of $0.6 to 1.2 million “R&D-equivalent” dollars for knowledge spillovers embodied in one patent citation. For an average semiconductor firm, such an estimate implies that the total value of knowledge spillovers the firm received during the sample period can be as high as half of its actual total R&D expenditures in the same period. This provides a direct measure of the economic value of social returns or externalities of relevant technological innovations. We also find that the value of knowledge spillovers declines as the size of firm's patent portfolio increases, and that self citations are more valuable than external citations, indicating a significant amount of tacit knowledge or know-how spillovers that occur within the firm.     

美国的敏捷零售模式对中国服装零售业的借鉴

70年代末到80年代初美国服装业陷入了市场需求变幻不定;服装总体消费连续下降的困难境地,促使美国服装业建立了快速反应机制。与此同时,美国服装零售商也深刻认识到:在纺织这条长产业链上,建立快速反应机制不仅仅是制造商的事,零售业作为联结制造商与最终消费者的关键环节和服装产业价值链的末端,建立对市场变化快速有效的反应新机制更为重要。于是一种以现代信息技术为条件,以零售商与制造商之间新型的行业关系为基础的敏捷零售模式出现了。本文分析对比了美国传统服装零售与敏捷服装零售的特点,以期为中国服装零售的发展提供一些思路。     

Profitability, productivity and price recovery patterns in the U.S. telecommunications industry

We undertake a study where we examine changes in the profitability, productivity and price recovery of firms in the U.S. telecommunications industry over a sixteen-year period. We assess the performance of thirty-three major companies in the local-exchange sector over six time periods 1975, 1978, 1981, 1984, 1987 and 1990, using a performance analysis model which disaggregates the profitability measure into two components: productivity and price recovery. We demonstrate the computation of performance using this technique. Our study indicates that the opening up of markets has had a significant impact on different dimensions of performance in the telecommunications industry, also validating a number of theoretical assumptions about the impact that industry changes are expected to have on firms.     

The formation and evolution of non-equity strategic alliances in China

Contractual joint ventures (CJVs) are a major form of non-equity strategic alliance in China, employed mainly by Hong Kong firms in the south China province of Guangdong. Due to their ambiguous legal status and the lack of conceptualisation and of their contractual nature, there has been little empirical research on CJVs. By theorising CJVs as a relational subcontracting arrangement and drawing on data from structured interviews with managers from both sides, this paper reveals the managerial decisions pertaining to the formation and evolution of the CJV non-equity alliances in Guangdong.

Survivors of industry shake-outs: The case of the U.S. color television set industry

In this article survivors and non-survivors of the ‘shake-out’ in the U.S. color television set industry are compared to determine how and along what dimensions these two classes of businesses differ. Two types of strategy variables are used in 18 hypotheses to probe similarities and differences at both the ‘corporate level’ and ‘business level’ of strategy. Significant differences are found, particularly at the business level. The findings are consistent with those of previous strategy research, but suggest that traditional wisdom regarding size, low costs and market share did not necessarily hold in this industry.     

Industry costs and consolidation: efficiency gains and mergers in the U.S. railroad industry

Since partial deregulation in 1980, there has been a massive consolidation of firms in the U.S. railroad industry premised largely on efficiency gains. We estimate a cost function and use it to calculate cost effects for specific mergers and for all mergers at the industry level from 1983–2003. Our central results are that consolidation in the railroad industry accounts for about an 11.4 percent reduction in industry costs (more than $4 Billion in 1992 prices), and that while there are tremendous differences across mergers with respect to the direction, level, timing, and source of cost impacts, most mergers result in cost savings.     

Globalisation, strategic alliances, acquisitions and technology transfer. Lessons from ICL/Fujitsu and Rover/Honda and BMW

As globalisation proceeds major national companies may find themselves involved in domestic mergers and acquisitions, only to have turn later to international co-operation. International strategic alliances, though, often eventually move on to international acquisition, either involving the alliance partner (as in the case of ICL/Fujitsu) or some third party (as in the case of Rover/Honda/BMW). This article draws on research in Britain and Japan to investigate the strategic and technological implications of such co-operative trajectories. Two acid tests appear to determine whether such inter-company co-operations (whether mergers, acquisitions or strategic alliances) are likely ultimately to prove transitory, or whether they will progress towards some more stable inter-action: ?Is the arrangement ‘adding value’ technologically? Is it contributing to some process of international integration? ?Technological synergies and learning possibilities are often played down initially in domestic acquisitions, and even in international strategic alliances offering particular scope for technology transfer; but they are important in determining long term outcomes.     

我国生物医药产业发展的前瞻性研究

随着人们对生命健康的日益重视,生物医药产业已成为了世界各国关注的焦点、我国的生物医药产业与国外相比存在不小的差距,本文将以国内外产业发展趋势为切入点,分析国内生物医药产业存在的问题,为产业的进一步发展提供针对性的建议。     

Comparison of benefits of radio frequency identification: Implications for business strategic performance in the U.S. and Korean retailers

This study explores a model to compare the benefits of RFID technology on supply chain management by focusing on retail industry. A path model was estimated to examine structural relationships among technological infrastructure, RFID benefits, and business strategic performance in the U.S. (n = 70) and Korean samples (n = 87). Result showed that technological infrastructure was required to more improve inventory management, store operation and demand management, leading to business strategic performance. Especially, data system automation was perceived as a prerequisite for improving inventory management for both countries. Hardware/software application was significantly related to the RFID benefit of inventory management for U.S. retailers, whereas, it was related to the benefits of efficient store operation and demand management for Korean retailers. Business strategic performance was significantly determined by RFID benefit factors (e.g., inventory management and demand management) for U.S. retailers and Korean retailers. The managerial implication for business to business strategic performance in the U.S. and Korean retail industries was discussed from a retailer's perspective.     

Performance implications of delayed competitive responses: evidence from the U.S. retail industry

The timing of competitive actions and responses is a key management concern that has important performance consequences. This study focuses on the timing and consequences of competitive responses. Theory predicts a negative linear relationship between response delay and responder performance mirrored by an opposing positive linear relationship between response delay and first mover performance. In contrast, our study suggests that response delay has a curvilinear relationship with responder performance, and a linear relationship with first mover performance. We test our propositions using retail industry data and discuss the implications. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Performance of Japanese firms in patented inventions; an analysis of patents granted in the U.S.

This paper addresses the relation between firm size and R&D activity for Japanese large manufacturing firms using patents granted in the U.S.. Japanese firms loom larger in world R&D agenda; therefore, the examination of the determinants of their R&D activity, in particular, the effects of firm size, may provide a suggestion of R&D activity. The firm size-patent count relationship varies across industry. In many industries, Japanese experience is not in favor of the assertion that there is a return to scale in R&D among large firms, indicating that Schumpeterian entrepreneurship is not likely to take place more than proportinately to firm size. This conclusion is not inconsistent with Schumpeter's theory.     

Managing knowledge leakage in strategic alliances: The effects of trust and formal contracts

Although strategic alliances offer opportunities for knowledge sharing and leveraging, they also carry the risk of knowledge leakage to partner firms. In this study, we conceptualize the notion of knowledge leakage as a multidimensional construct and formalize its measurement. We examine the effects of two dominant governance mechanisms—trust (goodwill trust and competence trust) and formal contracts on knowledge leakage. A survey of 205 partnering firms in China indicates that goodwill trust has a U-shaped relationship with knowledge leakage, whereas competence trust has a negative impact. Moreover, goodwill trust and competence trust interact differently with formal contracts on knowledge leakage. This study offers important theoretical and managerial insights for firms to manage knowledge leakage in strategic alliances.     

Capital Investment and Amortization Policies in the U.S.S.R.

This article deals with the two major problems in depreciation: how to determine actual wear and tear and, thus, life of equipment; and how to treat depreciation and its associated expenses in the accounting records. With regard to the first, the author recognizes that a certain amount of arbitrary action is probably inevitable. Industry in the USSR is evidently bound by its own equivalent of “Bulletin F”, which sets “amortization norms” or depreciation allowances for each class of machinery; and it is found that these often do not correspond to actual operating experience. The machine may be scrapped either before its allocated life span, or survive fully depreciated. This fact is, of course, quite familiar, and the author has no suggestions to offer beyond pointing out the problem. He also questions, for technical reasons, the straight line method which is now generally used. Yet it is almost impossible to justify, on functional grounds, any regulated alternative method, such as declining balance or sum-of-the-years-digits.     

Winning in the U.S.Activewear Market

A revolution in the U.S. activewear marker is being driven by the convergence of several consumer and retail trends.According to Cotton ncorporated＇s 2014 Sports Apparel Survey,more than nine in ten consumers say they wear athletic wear for activities other than exercise.ncreased consumer demand has prompted U.S athletic apparel sales o grow at double the rate of non-active apparel sales for several years.Strong sales growth has convinced mass merchants,fast-fashion etailers,and luxury brands to enter or increase offerings in this S33billion dollar morket previously dominated by o smaller cadre ofoutdoor and sports apparel retailers and brands