The Investment Development Path: Evidence from Poland and Other Countries of the Visegrád Group

This article discusses Polish foreign direct investment against that of the other Central and Eastern European countries belonging to the so-called Visegrád Group. The article is a continuation of this author’s previous work, now revised and taking into account a longer perspective of the analysis, theoretical recommendations modifying and widening the scope of the Investment Development Path model, the results of analytical studies published by other authors as well as the results of two research projects conducted by a Nicolaus Copernicus University team between 2006–2009 and 2010–2013. This article’s fundamental aim is to define the current stage of Poland’s economic development according to the Investment Development Path trajectory. The author concludes that Poland is in its third stage of development according to the Investment Development Path model, although still in an early phase of that stage.     

The Construction of Tourist Space by Public Administration and Institutional Communication: The Image of the Brand Andalucía as a Tourist Destination

The public administration in Spain is using service public advertising to promote the brand image of one destination: Andalucía. The purpose of campaigns to promote tourism is: to increase the gross domestic product; to devise, create, and execute law-abiding messages within the public space; and to create and reinforce the values being constructed around a certain location and around its brand as a distinctive sign of that location. In this article the goal is to analyze how the public administration creates the brand image of Andalucía through the campaigns “Andalucía te quiere” (Andalucía loves you) and “Smile! You are in Andalucía.”     

From an aggregate to a brand network: a study of the brand portfolio at L'Oréal

Abstract

Our purpose is to contribute to the understanding of brand-portfolio management by examining the brand-portfolio strategies of a world-leading company. We started to work on a case study with L'Oréal. Our research focused on two questions: (1) what reasons lead L'Oréal to develop a brand-portfolio strategy?; (2) how can brand-portfolio management create a higher and stronger level of competitive advantage for this company? The results show that an aggregation of brands is not in itself a brand portfolio. The juxtaposition of brands is one of, but not the sole, element necessary for the development of a brand portfolio, which is a combination of a brand ensemble and key competences born out of organisational savoir-faire. By analysing the evolution of the L'Oréal brand portfolio, this work shows how the brand combination within a portfolio is a key factor for company development, growth, and risk management. It is a crucial phase to understand L'Oréal's competitive advantage.     

Author and institution rankings in retail research: an analysis of the four retail journals from 1994–2008

The four retailing journals are reviewed over a 15 year period through 2008. Utilizing established methodology, the impact of scholars and institutions upon the retailing discipline is assessed using five measures. Over 1,800 articles were reviewed, coded for authorship and institutional affiliation and then analyzed based on several measures designed to control for quantity and quality of publication. Results by journal as well as overall are tabled by author and institutional appearance. Findings include a distinct division of European authors and institutions dominating the three European-based journals and North American authors dominating the American-based journal.     

Networks of power and networks of capital: evidence from a peripheral area of the first globalisation. The energy sector in Naples: from gas to electricity (1862–1919)

At the moment of Italian political unification, the Mezzogiorno (i.e. Southern Italy) was affected by a deep institutional change and it entered the wave of financial market openness, attracting all forms of investments from international capital markets. Naples – after having lost its previous role as the Bourbon kingdom’s capital city – enabled projects of large scale urban planning, beginning with basic public utilities. In this process, public and private lighting was chronologically the first area of interest – parallel with railway development planning – where international finance played a role. As evidence of the dynamics which brought this peripheral European area into the orbit of the first globalisation, this article addresses the complex business of energy supply in Naples – between 1862 and World War I – both from the point of view of its financial dynamics and the parallel evolution and organisational characteristics of the business actors involved. The Social Network Analysis (SNA) will support the reconstruction of the diversified and transnational businesses which the Neapolitan energy business was integrated in, at the same time giving evidence of both the bindings linking legally independent companies and the multiple relations between the actors involved. The transition from gas to electricity during this time marked the transition from weak to strong corporate ties according to the evolutionary trends both of technology and international financial markets.     

Resistance to Inequality as a Competitive Strategy? – The Cases of the Finnish consumer Co-ops Elanto and HOK 1905–2015

Abstract

We examine the common pattern of success-failure-success displayed by many western consumer co-operatives in the twentieth century. We concentrate on the biggest Finnish regional co-ops, Elanto and HOK, and compare their successes and failures as well as those of British co-ops with the help of the Blue Ocean Strategy (BOS). The BOS argues that companies can succeed if they produce surplus value for their clients and if those surpluses simultaneously reduce costs.

We suggest that resistance to inequality was the biggest success factor for co-ops in the twentieth century.     

Zobele chemical industries: the evolution of a family company from flypaper to globalization (1919–2001)

The Zobele, located in Trento, Northern Italy, was founded in 1919 by Enrico Zobele Sr., who became famous when he invented his first “killer product” in 1930—flypaper. After the Second World War, the bombed-out factory was rebuilt by his sons, Luigi and Fulvio, who introduced new products for home hygiene and home care. The company globalized under the joint leaderships of Chief Executive Enrico Jr., son of Luigi, and Franco and Giovanni, sons of Fulvio. In 2001, Zobele Chemical Industries reported sales of US$75 million with profits of US$5.1 million. The company had 700 employees, factories in Italy, Spain, Brazil, Paraguay, India, Hong Kong, Mexico, and Malaysia with continuing expansions in Italy and China. This is a case study of the Zobele family and Zobele Chemical Industries, their past history, and present status. It centers on the challenges they face in ensuring global leadership in their served market niches, while maintaining the continuity of family ownership and control. This case presents the practical implications for family enterprises in their attempts to meet the challenges of a globalized marketplace.     

Learning from own and others’ previous experience: the contribution of the venture capital firm to the likelihood of a portfolio company’s trade sale

The objective of this paper is to examine to what extent different venture capital firms contribute to the likelihood that the portfolio company in which they invested will realize a trade sale. We use arguments from learning theory to hypothesize the relationship between vicarious, experiential and congenital learning of the venture capital (VC) firm and the trade sale hazard of its portfolio companies. Based on our analysis of 206 VC-backed UK start-ups, we find that both trade sale experience of the VC and learning from syndicate partners with trade sale experience significantly increase the trade sale hazard. The routines and procedures learned from experienced syndicate partners complement experience accumulated through trial and error. Congenital trade sale experience of the investment managers on the contrary has no significant influence on the acquisition hazard.     

Teaching note: Zobele chemical industries: the evolution of a family company from flypaper to globalization (1919–2001)

The case study of the Zobele family and Zobele Chemical Industries, their past history, and present status was published in J. Bus. Venturing doi:10.1016/S0883-9026(03)00062-4. This teaching note centers on the challenges they face in ensuring global leadership in their served market niches, while maintaining the continuity of family ownership and control. This case presents the practical implications for family enterprises in their attempts to meet the challenges of a globalized marketplace.The Zobele, located in Trento, Northern Italy, was founded in 1919 by Enrico Zobele Sr., who became famous when he invented his first “killer product” in 1930—flypaper. After the Second World War, the bombed-out factory was rebuilt by his sons, Luigi and Fulvio, who introduced new products for home hygiene and home care. The company globalized under the joint leaderships of Chief Executive Enrico Jr., son of Luigi, and Franco and Giovanni, sons of Fulvio. In 2001, Zobele Chemical Industries reported sales of US$75 million with profits of US$5.1 million. The company had 700 employees, factories in Italy, Spain, Brazil, Paraguay, India, Hong Kong, Mexico, and Malaysia with continuing expansions in Italy and China.     

The Importance of the Indirect Transfer Mechanism for Consumer Willingness to Pay for Fair Trade Products—Evidence from a Natural Field Experiment

A natural field experiment is conducted on the determinants of consumer’s willingness to pay for “fair trade” (FT) products. In four treatments, subjects are offered different choices in connection with a coffee purchase, such as buying regular coffee or FT coffee at a premium, regular coffee with or without a premium, or donating directly or not donating. Depending on the treatment, the premium or direct donations are either given to FT or a well-known charity. A large part of the willingness to pay a premium for FT coffee over regular coffee is shown to be not related to the specific attributes of FT coffee but rather caused by the indirect transfer mechanism that FT uses, i.e., selling products at a premium which goes to the cause of FT.     

How to reduce inflation: an independent central bank or a currency board? The experience of the Baltic countries

Countries in transition often face high levels of inflation. This paper discusses two ways to reduce inflation: the creation of an independent central bank; and the introduction of a currency board. It is shown that both options have advantages and disadvantages. This framework is used for a normative analysis of the policy choices of the Baltic states. It is argued that, while Estonia's currency board based on the D-mark is very much in line with the criteria for an optimal monetary regime, Lithuania's initial choice of a US dollar-based currency board is not. The peg to the SDR — which very much looks like a currency board — as (eventually) adopted by Latvia is an intermediate case. Some policy recommendations and the problem of exit strategies towards the Euro zone are discussed.     

Brazil: A Leadership Role in Pushing for a Multipolar International Monetary System?——Exploring the Possible Prescriptions to the complaint from the cases of Brazil

Brazil is set to propose an "exchange rate anti-dumping" measure to the World Trade Organization that would allow countries to retaliate against trading partners that undertake competitive devaluations of their currencies.Brazil's Geneva office is working on the plan,which would mark an escalation of what Latin America's largest economy has dubbed the "currency war" - the battle against what it sees as the use of loose monetary policies by reserve-currency issuers such as the US to boost their exports.     

Brazil: A Leadership Role in Pushing for a Multipolar International Monetary System?——Exploring the Possible Prescriptions to the complaint from the cases of Brazil

Brazial is set to propose an "exchange rate anti-dumping" measure to the World Trade Organization that would allow countries to retaliate against trading partners that undertake competitive devaluations of their currencies.     

The role of consumers' attitude towards economic climate in their reaction to ‘PL-only’ assortments: Evidence from the United States and Spain

Retailers’ assortment rationalisation strategies have found an “ally” in the current global economic crisis. Indeed, retail boycotts of individual brands in economic recession contexts are not uncommon in the CPG industry. In fact, many of the consumers who began buying PLs during the economic recession are continuing their PL behaviour post-recession. So, what is the role of the economic climate in consumers’ reaction– in terms of store loyalty – to retailers’ NB delisting decisions? Is it so relevant? This paper examines how consumers’ attitude towards the economic climate influences his/her reaction to retailers’ strategy of offering ‘PL-only’ assortments in the context of an economic slump (Spain) compared to a context of economic recovery (U.S.). To do so, we have designed a controlled online experiment for two large consumer panels in the Spanish and the U.S. markets. Our results suggest that consumers’ acceptance of ‘PL-only’ assortments is a separate phenomenon rather than merely being a “consequence” of the current economic situation. Nevertheless, in an economic recovery, such ‘PL-only’ assortments do not appear to be the best strategy.     

The impact of the deregulation of retail hours on shopping trip patterns in a mall hierarchy: an application of the RASTT model to the Sydney Project (1980–1998) and the global vacant shop problem

The impact of the deregulation of trading hours on trips to planned shopping centres is studied using the retail aggregate space-time trip (RASTT) model, where changes in consumer spatial behaviour are analysed at three malls in seven year periods (1980/82, 1988/89, 1996/98) in Sydney, Australia (The Sydney Project). After effective deregulation in 1992, the subsequent repeat samples in a hierarchy of shopping malls show significant structural change in only the afternoon samples at community and regional planned shopping centres. The results show a substantial increase in the attractiveness of planned shopping centres over traditional retail centres, where less consumers are shopping locally. There was a shift in spatial demand towards Sunday for ‘small centre’ behaviour and the appearance of high frequency regular trips to the regional planned centre. The RASTT model suggests that these changes in the structure of consumer behaviour are a result of moving the time boundary to seven days-a-week shopping at these centres. These structural changes may account for the on-going long term vacant shop problem that has manifested itself under shopping hour liberalisation in south east Australian, British and Canadian traditional retail hierarchies in the 1990s.     

Behavioral Factors Affecting Students’ Intentions to Enroll in Business Ethics Courses: A Comparison of the Theory of Planned Behavior and Social Cognitive Theory Using Self-Identity as a Moderator

The current study used both Ajzen’s theory of planned behavior (TPB) and Bandura’s social cognitive theory (SCT) to examine the intentions of business undergraduate students toward taking elective ethics courses and investigated the role of self-identity in this process. The study was prospective in design; data on predictors and intentions were obtained during the first collection of data, whereas the actual behavior was assessed 10 days later. Our results indicated that the TPB was a better predictor of behavioral intentions than was SCT. As expected, self-identity served as a moderator in the relationship between perceived behavioral control and behavioral intentions posited by the TPB and in the relationship between outcome expectancy and behavioral intentions posited by SCT. Self-identity was a crucial factor in predicting actual behavior within both theoretical frameworks.     

‘The price is different depending on whether you want a receipt or not’: examining the purchasing of goods and services from the informal economy in South-East Europe

ABSTRACT

Research on the informal economy has largely focussed on supply-side issues, addressing questions like what motivates individuals to work in the informal economy and how can governments tackle this phenomenon. To date, much less attention has been given to demand-side aspects, examining issues around who purchases goods and services from the informal economy, why, and to what extent there are variations according to demographic, socio-economic and geographic dimensions. This paper addresses this imbalance by examining the purchasing of goods and services from the informal economy in South-East Europe. Firstly, this paper identifies the prevalence of such informal purchasing in South-East Europe as well as who undertakes such purchasing. Next, it examines the relative significance of cost factors, social factors and failures in the formal economy, in motivating such purchasing. Finally, it explores variability in the significance of these motivators based on individual-level factors, within and across three South-East European countries.