Local Heroes,Regional Champions or Global Mandates? Empirical Evidence on the Dynamics of German MNC Subsidiary Roles in Central Europe

SUMMARY

In this paper we analyze the influence of a subsidiary's external environment, of its task and of its mode of ownership and its mode of market entry on the development of its role for the case of German subsidiaries in Central Europe. We define a subsidiary's role as a three-dimensional construct, consisting of a subsidiary's tasks, its value chain activities and its respective geographical scope. Drawing on a sample of 99 subsidiaries from the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland, we find that a subsidiary's host country, its tasks and its mode of market entry influence the development of its role. We find no evidence for the influence of subsidiary's mode of ownership. Especially, “geographical market proximity seeking”-subsidiaries seem to follow a different path of development than subsidiaries where this task is of minor importance as they tend to perform a smaller number of value chain activities and tend to expand these value chain activities with regard to their geographical scope more incrementally.     

玉器行业网络团购营销策略的探讨

玉器行业具备高消费、高附加值、无污染、劳动密集型等特点,是国家鼓励、扶持的新兴产业,具有极大的市场开发空间。我国玉器行业以小作坊式生产为主,经营多处于分散无序的状态。玉器从业者营销方式千篇一律、产品同质化严重的特点又制约了玉器行业的发展。本文基于玉器行业的特点,详细阐述了基于Web2.0网络团购营销模式下玉器行业的营销策略。     

补贴概念与效果

补贴是一个相当复杂的议题,其复杂性不仅表现在概念上,也表现在它可能产生的效果上。补贴可能增加也可能降低其受体的利润水平;可能对国际贸易产生扭曲效果,其影响也可能仅限于国内;可能有助于政府实现其意欲达成的目标,也可能背离其初衷;可能增加或降低政府收益,也可能无影响。把补贴宽泛地界定为有可能在短期、中期或长期对其受体的利润水平产生影响的政府作为(或不作为),有助于使决策者把关注重点转向补贴效果,从而有利于其做出应否维持、增加、减少或消除特定补贴的判断。     

刍议国际投资协定中的税收仲裁机制——以中国的缔约实践为例

为减少与包括WTO协定和避免双重征税协定在内的其他涉税条约争端解决机制之间的冲突,特别是,避免原有的投资者与国家间投资仲裁机制对本国税收主权的过度限制,中国晚近缔结的国际投资协定引入了专门的税收仲裁机制。这一尝试值得期许。然而,该税收仲裁机制仍存在诸多的不足,这可能会削弱其应有的作用。对此,中国应参考有关国家的实践,作出相应的调整。     

The Rise and Stall of a Fair Trade Pioneer: The Cafédirect Story

This is a case study investigating the growth of fair trade pioneer, Cafédirect. We explore the growth of the company and develop strategic insights on how Cafédirect has attained its prominent position in the UK mainstream coffee industry based on its ethical positioning. We explore the marketing, networks and communications channels of the brand which have led to rapid growth from niche player to a mainstream brand. However, the company is experiencing a slow down in its meteoric rise and we question whether it is possible for the company to regain its former momentum with its current marketing strategy.     

Using Social Marketing Strategies to Reform Social Policy: A Lesson from British History

ABSTRACT

This article presents a general framework for the social marketing process. An example from British history is used to demonstrate an effective model for gaining public and government support for a social marketing initiative. The historical analysis illustrates a key issue: public interpretation of the importance of the social marketing cause is dependent upon its core values and that its values may differ from the group advocating social action. The advocacy group's effectiveness in obtaining support for its cause will hinge upon its ability to strike a resonant chord with the social values of society and its cause.     

Toward a Contemporary Conceptual Framework for Stakeholder Theory

Atomic individualism is embedded in most definitions of stakeholder theory, and as a result, stakeholders are not integral to the basic identity of the corporation which is considered to be independent of, and separate from, its stakeholders. Feminist theory has been suggested as a way of developing a more relational view of the corporation and its stakeholders, but it lacks a systematically developed conceptual framework for undergirding its own insights. Pragmatic philosophy is offered as a way of providing this theoretical undergirding for ^. a relational understanding of the firm and its stakeholders.     

Low Carbon Economy： A Sustainable Economic Development Model

Price paid while development achieved Since the reform and opening up in 1978, China has already paid a high price in its resources and environment despite the fact that a miraculous economic progress has been achieved. The country＇s sustainable development has been increasingly thwarted by its accelerating resources exhaustion, environment pollution and biological deterioration. Without fundamental changes to its past resource-extensive economic growth model, it would be difficult for the fast-growing economy to sustain its robust economic growth.     

The necessity for a strategic approach to monetary policy

The Fed has a spotty track record, and its discretionary approach to conducting monetary policy will lead to the same mistakes it made in the past. I emphasize the importance of adopting a strategic framework for conducting monetary policy. The Fed has constantly changed the course of monetary policy in response to high-frequency data and other temporary factors. The Fed’s excessive monetary ease has distorted economic and financial behavior. The Fed should base its policy on longer-run objectives rather than short-run economic and financial fluctuations, and communicate these objectives to the public and to financial markets. Under the Financial Choice Act, the Fed would have to establish a strategic guideline, and explain to Congress why monetary policy may be deviating from the guideline. I respect the Fed and see the need for change to maintain its credibility. The Fed must acknowledge its shortfalls and modify its focus.     

Analyzing the Robustness of Decision Strategies in Multiagent Decision Making

We consider a multiagent decision making problem where an agent, being able to estimate the preferences of other agents, defines its own in such a way that, after an aggregation process, its most desired alternative receives the highest group support. In previous work, this informed agent defined its preferences as the solution of a non-linear optimization problem. In this competitive scenario, and focusing on this agent, we analyze the amount of imprecision in the estimates that can be tolerated while still making its most preferred alternative the most supported one. We empirically show that, even when considering just the “harmful” errors in the estimates, the informed agent is able to force the group decision towards its interest.     

我国的高等教育服务贸易:发展、挑战与对策

我国高等教育服务贸易存在巨大逆差,在很大程度上可以归因于我国的高等教育服务贸易法制与行政体制以及激烈的国际竞争环境。要解决发展高等教育服务贸易面临的困境与挑战,我国必须明确区分营利性与非营利性高等教育,制定与实施高等教育服务贸易的发展规划和促进政策,完善高等教育服务贸易的立法内容,完善高等教育服务贸易的规制体制,改革教育行政体制,加强高等教育服务贸易国际谈判、交流与合作。     

浅析红都服装店经营特点

随着中华民族的崛起和中国整个纺织服装业的振兴,一大批品牌正从区域性向全国范围发展,红都作为主端市场的代表品牌,以精致细作、高贵雅致、卓而不群而著称。特色CI系统为企业树立了统一形象,红都品牌的特色之一是个性化设计及包装。其强强合作的发展模式,最大限度地推动了企业提升其国际化水平,为开拓国际市场做好了积累。     

韩国利用外资的特点及启示

韩国在金融危机前,实施外向型经济发展战略,使其经济迅速发展,而外资在其中的作用是巨大的,它缩短了韩国实现现代化的过程,仅20多年韩国就跃入新兴工业化国家的行列。但是,韩国在利用外资中以贷款为主,尤其是以商业贷款为主,这使其外债不断增加,最终给韩国的经济造成重大影响。金融危机后,韩国及时调整利用外资的政策,使其经济不断走向正轨。     

世界主要国家和地区生物燃料发展现状和趋势展望

出于能源安全、促进农村经济发展、保护环境等方面考虑,自2000年以来,以美国、巴西和欧盟为主的一些国家和地区大力倡导和扶持生物燃料生产,对当地经济发挥了极大的推动作用,同时也对国际粮油市场产生了巨大影响。借鉴先进国家和地区的有关政策措施和成功经验,对于我国因地制宜发展生物燃料生产,保障能源安全、保护生态环境和建设社会主义新农村具有重大意义。     

浅析我国创业板市场──必要性、对主板的影响及其关注的问题

有关建立中国创业板市场的种种讨论已经成为热门话题,其对中国未来经济发辰有何意义、市场功能定位如何以及如何运作等问题受到了各界人士的广泛关注．从新经济的角度探讨创业板市场设立的必要性、对主板的影响以及创业板市场本身应关注的深层次的问题至关重要。     

盐都自贡特色旅游产品的营销策划与推广

盐都特色旅游产品是自贡盐文化的标志性建筑之一,它既是千年盐都的文化缩影,又承载了自贡盐文化持续发展的重任。自贡市应抓住盐都特色,拓宽发展领域,拓展客源市场,将千年盐都历史文化融入到盐都特色旅游产品经营中,大力推进重大旅游项目建设,积极探索“政府引导、企业经营、市场运作”模式;实现自贡盐文化特色旅游产品与保护自贡独有文化遗产的结合,使盐都特色旅游产品焕发新的生命。     

国际化经营中OEM方式的效应分析--以顺德家电企业格兰仕集团为例

在OEM方式中，受托厂商研发部门的技术增量的变化取决于委托企业R＆D投入、提供生产线及提供关键零部件等中间产品的技术存量和受托厂商研发部门的技术吸收能力的综合作用。受托厂商进入自我创新、自创品牌是关键的阶段。建议要加强产业配套能力．并且增强受托厂商的技术能力尤为重要。     

Stochastic service life cycle analysis using customer reviews

This study proposes a stochastic service life cycle analysis to gauge where a service is in its life cycle and to give forecasts about its future prospects. We employ customer review data to measure customer-oriented service maturity and use a hidden Markov model to estimate the probability of a service being at a certain stage of its life cycle. Based on this, we also develop three indicators to represent the future prospects of a service’s life cycle progression. The main advantages of the proposed approach lie in its ability to model different shapes of life cycles without any supplementary information and to examine a wide range of services at acceptable levels of time and cost. We believe our method will assist firms in building stage-customised post-launch service strategies. A case study of mobile game services in the Apple App Store is presented.     

Alibaba: Entrepreneurial growth and global expansion in B2B/B2C markets

The purpose of this case-based research is to analyze and discuss Alibaba Group (hereafter Alibaba) and its entrepreneurial growth and global expansion in B2B/B2C markets. The paper uses company and industry-specific data and surveys to analyze a fast growing Chinese B2B/B2C firm and its internationalization and expansion in global markets. Findings of the work reveal that in a short time, Alibaba has become a major entrepreneurial icon and global player and continues to grow worldwide because of its well-planned business initiatives and B2B/B2C-based business models. The paper also provides implications in the area of international entrepreneurship and its related areas. International entrepreneurs need to learn from Alibaba’s fast growing business model and dynamic growth because of its competitive platforms and Web-based strategies which helped the company to target small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in global markets. Within the areas of international entrepreneurship and international business, the paper also provides discussion which deals with the changing e-commerce industry and its future growth and developments.     

近代华北对外贸易特征浅析

近代华北是中国的政治中心地区，其对外贸易的发展经历了从小到大、从低级向高级逐步发展的过程，在全国外贸中占有极为重要的地位。但从近代华北地区外贸的增长趋势、在全国的外贸地位及主要贸易对象来看，近代华北对外贸易虽然和以前相比有了很大发展，但从总体上来说仍比较落后。