The effect of host country Internet infrastructure on foreign expansion of Korean MNCs

This study examines the effect of host country Internet infrastructure on a multinational corporation (MNC) foreign expansion. Using Heckman’s selection model on a sample of 2589 subsidiaries of 487 Korean MNCs between 1990 and 2011, we find that host country Internet infrastructure is important in MNC expansion decisions. In addition, we find that a well-developed Internet infrastructure within a host country leads to more investments from MNCs producing consumer over industrial goods and is more attractive to domestic market followers than market leaders. We find that the host country’s Internet infrastructure is important for an MNC foreign expansion decision, suggesting that efficient communication within an MNC is critical in coordinating globalized MNC subsidiary operations.     

The effect of trust on customer contact personnel strategic behavior and sales performance in a service environment

The involvement of customer contact personnel in the strategy process is a largely unexplored area in both marketing and strategic management. Based on social exchange theory, and in particular, the notion of trust within this context, we examine the nature and extent of strategy participation exhibited by customer contact personnel. Exploring dyadic relationships we found that the extent to which contact personnel trust their supervisors positively influence their willingness to participate in strategic activities. Furthermore, we found that communication and information sharing moderate the relationship between trust and strategic activities. Thus, the more contact personnel are involved in the strategic process, the more likely supervisors are to rate the contact person's selling performance as high.