Russia's true business performance: Inviting to international business?

Russia may be twice as inviting to international businesses as has been previously thought, because its gross domestic product (GDP) and its consumer demand may be twice as large as has been reported in the official Russian statistics of Goskomstat. This is because as much as 90 percent of the business activity of Russian companies, especially small private-sector companies, is never reported to Goskomstat and therefore never included in Russia 's data about GDP and per capita income (PCI). This vibrant and growing economy, unearthed in this study by carefully structured qualitative research tools, implies solid, but dangerous and compromising, opportunities for international business.     

Determining international strategic alliance performance: A multidimensional approach

This paper considers the relationship between subjective, multidimensional measures of international strategic alliance (ISA) performance and predictors of success both before the alliance is formed (pre-alliance formation factors) and during the operation of the alliance (post-alliance formation factors). The empirical study, based on a web-survey, investigates a sample of Danish partner firms engaged in 48 equity joint ventures and 70 non-equity joint ventures with partners from around the world. A multi-dimensional operationalization of alliance performance measurement is utilized in order to capture both process and outcome aspects of alliance performance. The results show a significant relationship between alliance performance and host country risk as well as partner reputation preceding alliance formation. During the operation of the alliance, relationships between collaborative know-how, trust, protectiveness, complementarity, cultural distance and alliance performance were found.     

Motives and partner selection criteria in international strategic alliances: Perspectives of Chinese firms

We examine the strategic motivation for international strategic alliance (ISA) formation and partner selection criteria in a sample of 203 Chinese ISAs using questionnaire data obtained from Chinese partners. The highest ranked strategic motives of the Chinese firms are maintaining market position, international expansion, and technology exchange. In contrast, the major strategic motives for alliance formation of the foreign firms are characterised by market penetration and learning how to operate successfully in China. As anticipated the relative importance of strategic motives for ISA formation is found to vary between Chinese firms and foreign firms. We also examine aspects of partner selection criteria for ISA formation from the perspective of Chinese partners. Findings show that the task-related selection criteria are determined more by the strategic motives for ISA formation than are the partner-related selection criteria. This confirms that task-related selection criteria tend to be specific to the alliance whereas partner-related selection criteria are more general in nature.     

Alliance capabilities,interpartner attributes,and performance outcomes in international strategic alliances

This study tests, using a sample of cross-border alliances, how different alliance capability components intersect to develop resource complementarity and trust and how such interpartner attributes themselves intersect to enhance performance. We find that management capability allows firms to build resource complementarity and trust. High formulation capability is required for management capability to positively shape resource complementarity. Search capability is only positively linked to resource complementarity when formulation capability is low. International alliance experience drives resource complementarity. Trust has an inverted U-shaped relationship with performance, and resource complementarity drives trust and performance. Resource complementarity positively moderates the trust–performance link.     

Symbiotic ownership,cultural alignment,and firm performance: A test among international strategic alliances

Based on a sample of 61 international firms in China with industry symbiosis, we examine the effects of cultural alignment on firm performance. We first predict that symbiosis will have a negative effect on firm performance. After that, focusing on the most dimension of culture, i.e., collectivism/individualism, we also predict that in a society with a high collectivistic value, organizational collectivism will be positively correlated with firm performance because of its alignment with the prevailing societal culture. Finally, we predict that this cultural value should have a moderating effect on the relationship between symbiosis and performance. Data are collected from multiple sources to test these predictions. The results of the data analyses show the benefits of building a collectivistic organizational culture for firms with a high level of industry symbiosis.     

Entrepreneurial orientation and strategic alliance success: The contingency role of relational factors

This study extends entrepreneurship research into the domain of strategic alliances by hypothesizing a positive relationship between entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and firm-level alliance success. Drawing on a relational view, we further examine the focal relationship within a contingency framework, building on the distinction between cooperation (joint action and bonding) and conflict. Findings from a study of 197 partner firms suggest that a high level of joint action strengthens the positive relationship between EO and alliance success. Bonding moderates the relationship in an inverted U-shape manner such that the effect of EO on alliance success will be greatest when bonding exists at the moderate level. However, conflict has no significant moderating effect on the EO–alliance success relationship. Overall, this study provides novel insights into whether and when partner firms can translate an EO into final alliance outcomes.     

事业单位绩效管理刍议

本文笔者在深入解读我国事业单位绩效工资制度基础上,分析了进一步推进此项工作的难点和存在的问题,并提出了相应的对策建议.     

Exploration and exploitation fit and performance in international strategic alliances

Exploration and exploitation constitute two separate, potentially conflicting strategic choices for firms engaged in international strategic alliances. Our empirical study challenges the ambidexterity argument and demonstrates that exploration and exploitation are separate (though not necessarily antithetical) strategies with different antecedents and performance consequences.Our results show that while competency similarity is conducive to upstream innovative performance, prior experience with the partner is potentially damaging for this type of performance and trust and cultural distance do not play significant roles. When the motive is efficiency and downstream market performance, prior experience with the partner instead is beneficial, as are high levels of trust and low levels of cultural distance. These findings have key implications for literature on strategic fit and alliance performance.     

The domain of international business: Futures and future relevance of international business

Using data generated by a global Delphi study involving international business (IB) scholars and practitioners, this article reflects on the core and domain of a discipline that, on one side, has to deal with increasing competition from related disciplines, which internationalize their research focus, and, on the other side, is trying to develop conceptual knowledge to explain ever more complex international phenomena. Generating a multilevel framework of important issues for IB leads to propositions, which may widen the focus of the discipline to go beyond the firm, which, comparing IB to related disciplines, can provide pathways that maintain IB highly relevant for most diverse communities affected by international business. ©2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Trends in international business,thought, and literature: The past and future of political analysis for international business

The literature on political risks (and opportunities) in international business has expanded far beyond its initial preoccupation with expropriation and instability in “third world,” developing countries. The literature has thus become more concerned with other types of government policies and with political conditions in “first world” and “second world” countries as well. In those respects, the literature has developed analytically and become of more widespread relevance to managerial issues in international business. This article reviews the topical coverage of the political risk literature of international business, and in addition it considers key analytical issues concerning the levels of analysis, theoretical content, and analytical methods that have been evident, as well as those that have been neglected. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Restructuring Japanese business through Kyosei: Capitalizing on international strategic alliances at the consumer level

Japan of the post-bubble era is the object of much reflection and speculation pertaining to risutora or restructuring of the economy. This study provides a novel, analytical perspective on the fundamental issues involved in the shift of momentum that characterizes Japanese business and economic restructuring. After examining the economic and corporate dimensions of the transitional forces that shape Japan's restructuring process, this study focuses on two powerful, yet often ignored, agents of change: the emergence of a new class of collaborative mandates, kyosei, and the rise of consumer power. The study further emphasizes the importance of planning and managing corporate-level restructuring activities with the interests of end users in mind, by empirically demonstrating the significance of strategic alliances, as a corporate restructuring option, on consumers. The results show that consumers' impression of alliances with Japanese firms have a strong effect on future attitudes toward each partnering brand. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Customer share,value, and business success

Two books on strategies that are likely to shape business success in the twenty‐first century are reviewed. One is about a change in focus by marketers from pursuing a share of the market to going after a share of the customers' total spending money. The other is a collection of research articles by faculty at leading business schools on how entrepreneurial marketers might address the business challenges of the new millennium with effective strategies that create value for customers. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Mapping international business and international business policy research: Intellectual structure and research trends

This paper analyzes the core international business (IB) areas covered by ten IB-focused journals to date using 13,937 documents reflecting more than 300 years of combined publication history. Using bibliometric and citation analysis, it provides a systematic understanding of the current IB landscape, explicates the relevance of the future of IB research and depicts trends in this research field with emerging prevalent themes identified. The strongest themes across IB journals are performance, perspective and emerging economies/MNEs, shared strongly across UK/Europe, US and Asia-based journals. Our findings report on the prevalent research field, economy and geography, the latter analyzing the impact of author numbers and distribution, and thus, scale effects. Within this context, sole authorships are largely replaced by co-authorships, yet often on national level. We further limited the study to IB policy and found the focus centers on key themes of foreign business attraction, transnational governance and IB promotion.     

Ethno-national ties and international business opportunity exploitation: The role of environmental factors

This paper examines the effect of ethnic populations on international opportunity exploitation at a societal, or national, level. Past research shows a relationship between ethnic ties and international opportunity at an individual level; however, little is known about the role of ethnic ties and international opportunity at a national level, which is called ‘ethno-national ties’ in this study. In order to acquire in-depth knowledge of this subject, we studied a population of Chinese who are living outside their home country and applied contingency theory principles to investigate environmental boundary conditions that affect this population. Data collected from Chinese exporters indicate an overall positive effect of ethno-national ties on international opportunity exploitation—an effect that is influenced by three moderating variables: technological turbulence, psychic distance, and export barriers. Technological turbulence and export barriers weaken the effect of ethno-national ties on international opportunity exploitation while psychic distance enhances the effect.     

Breakthrough innovation in international business: The impact of tech-innovation and market-innovation on performance

The literature suggests that the greater the perceived novelty of a firm’s products and markets, the greater the potential value to the user (Lepak et al., 2007). In this study we analyze the extent to which breakthrough innovation (both tech-innovation and market-innovation) has a positive impact on both economic and strategic export performance. Tech-innovation incorporates technological developments to improve customer benefits versus existing alternatives in the market. Our findings reveal that tech-innovation has a positive impact on the economic and strategic export performance of firms. This relationship becomes stronger when more human resources are available and the exporter becomes more oriented toward the importer. In less competitive markets, the positive relationship between tech-innovation and both types of export performance becomes even stronger.Market-innovation occurs when the product concept or benefits depart from serving existing or conventional markets. Market-innovation was found to be negatively associated with strategic export performance, as it requires major learning effort by importers. This suggests that to create value, exporters need to develop solutions jointly with importers. Overall, these findings suggest that value creation in terms of both tech-innovation and market-innovation needs to involve importers to achieve expectations, thereby leading to improvement in a firm’s short-term and long-term export performance.     

Clio in the business school: Historical approaches in strategy,international business and entrepreneurship

On the back of recent and significant new debates on the use of history within business and management studies, we consider the perception of historians as being anti-theory and of having methodological shortcomings; and business and management scholars displaying insufficient attention to historical context and privileging of certain social science methods over others. These are explored through an examination of three subjects: strategy, international business and entrepreneurship. We propose a framework for advancing the use of history within business and management studies more generally through greater understanding of historical perspectives and methodologies.     

Entry,trade costs,and international business cycles

Are firm entry and fixed exporting costs relevant for understanding the international transmission of business cycles? We revisit this question using a model that includes entry, selection to exporting activity, physical capital accumulation and endogenous labor supply. We determine that once the stochastic process for exogenous productivity is calibrated to consider the endogenous dynamics in TFP created by the number of firms and the time series volatility of entry is calibrated to the data, our model yields minimal departures from the Backus et al. (1992) benchmark. The richer model shares all of the successes of the previous model in terms of the volatilities of aggregate quantities, as well as its failures, in terms of replicating patterns of international co-movement and the volatility of international relative prices.