Innovation success of non-R&;D-performers: substituting technology by management in SMEs

This paper investigates the impact of in-house R&D and innovation management practices on innovation success in small and medium-sized firms (SMEs). While there is little doubt about the significance of technology competence for generating successful innovations, in-house R&D activities may be a particular challenge for SMEs due to high risk exposure, high fixed costs, high minimum investment and severe financial constraints. SMEs may thus opt for refraining from R&D and relying more on innovation management tools in order to achieve innovation success. We analyse whether such a strategy can pay off. Based on data from the German CIS, we find that R&D activities are a main driver for innovation success if combined with external R&D, using external innovation sources or by entering into co-operation agreements. SMEs without in-house R&D can yield a similar innovation success if they effectively apply human resource management tools or team work to facilitate innovation processes.

Cultivating greater self‐confidence in African management research

Although strategic management has taken root in many African organizations, much of the existing body of African management research offers little insight into the current state of knowledge and direction in terms of Africa finding its voice within the mainstream research. We draw on a review of the literature to develop a conceptual framework for classifying the contributions in African management research. The conceptual model captures the indigenous (intra‐Africa) and inter‐Africa dimension of macro‐strategy and organizational behavior/human resource research. The accumulated body of research indicates a sign of growing self‐confidence in African management research that must be maintained and revitalized. This article contributes to the literature by developing a unified conceptual model that captures both the indigenous and comparative dimensions of management research. A number of fruitful avenues for future research have been advanced.     

Cultural influences on global firms' decisions to cut the strategic brand ties that bind: A commentary essay

Today's global firms face increasing pressure to protect their brand identity from encroachments of copycat brands that seek to benefit from associations firms have established in the minds of consumers. This essay is a commentary to the article “Marking your trade: cultural factors in the prolongation of trademarks” by Melnyk, Giarratana and Torres that raises several important issues warranting further attention by researchers. This essay comments on the paper's contributions, limitations, and opportunities contributing to future research about trademark practices and strategies. Furthermore, the essay suggests useful extensions relative to the more general strategic issue of prolongation or abandonment of intangible brand assets in global markets and the dynamic interface between firm-created and consumer-created brand meaning.     

经济结构转型背景下企业管理模式变革研究

在现代企业经营管理中,良好的管理模式直接决定了企业未来的发展趋势与经营状况,有助于提升企业核心竞争力,适应新的经济变化形势。在经济结构转型背景下,作为现代企业中的动态管理机制,其管理模式也需要与时俱进,跟随时代变化及时转变方向并进行改革,加强创新,以更好地适应日渐复杂的经济环境,满足企业现代化发展的基本需求。     

Facilitating factors in the cross-cultural transfer of management practices: The case of a German multinational in Brazil

The transfer of management practices in multinational companies has been discussed as a central topic in international business. Research has mainly focused on the challenges associated with transfer processes, but little is known about facilitating factors in cross-cultural transfer, even less in emerging markets. Based on a single case study of a German multinational in Brazil, we examine the transfer of quality management practices and map this process into three ideal-typical stages. We identify nine facilitating factors that play different roles during the three stages and highlight their support for the subsidiary’s successful development. Our findings contribute to constructive approaches of cross-border transfer and show that the emergence of a hybrid organizational culture through mutual learning favors the transfer of management practices in multinationals.     

我国中小企业财务管理现状分析与对策研究

中小企业是国民经济重要组成部分其财务有其自身独特性.本文在分析中小企业财务管理问题的现状的基础上,提出加强其管理的相关对策.     

Managing the human resource in Indian SMEs: The role of indigenous realities

This paper discusses how issues of people management are addressed in Indian small and medium enterprises (SMEs). It also highlights the indigenous approaches to human resource management (HRM) that have surfaced in the Indian SME context. The research formulation has been built on the mapping of people-management practices in two SME case studies, one of which is also a family-based organization. The analysis shows that indigenous realities in HRM in Indian SMEs relate mainly to the provision of financial, emotional and social support to the workforce; employee involvement (EI) practices; recruitment; skill development; managing employee relations; and managing vis-à-vis labor law framework. The paper argues that in the sphere of people management in SMEs, the willingness to innovate and formalize the HR systems is constrained by a kind of bounded rationality, i.e., the owners of SMEs mostly believe that they are already doing what is humanly possible in this regard. The analysis has an important message for concerned practitioners—in order to realize their full potential and to progress towards fulfilling their vision; SMEs eventually have to intertwine indigenization and formalization for their people management approaches.     

浅谈散粮系统的设备管理

主要介绍了我在港口筒仓散粮系统的设备管理上的具体做法及经验,通过对人员的管理和物的管理,实现设备的综合管理,使设备管理达到良性循环,实现了设备安全运行。     

知识管理时代中国企业文化的创新

21世纪知识管理时代的企业文化是不断创新的企业文化,其具有强大的生命力和创造性。但由于理论上本土成果的匮乏,企业文化建设的物质基础、政策保障、规范市场行为的经济立法等严重不足,导致企业文化与企业制度两张皮现象突出,企业文化对企业影响处于弱势,加之企业政策可操作性差,难以具体实施等。借鉴西方成功经验,中国企业文化创新要以先进文化为统领,按照知识管理和市场经济的客观要求,坚持“立意高、起点实、重点突破、系统推进”原则,构筑其个性化和可操作性的创新内容,力争在观念上、制度上、方法上、形象上创出新途径。     

Critical success factors in project management: implication from Vietnam

This study will assess successful project performance based on key project factors. The indicators of project success are cost, time, technical performance and customer satisfaction as used in previous studies. The sample consisted of 239 project members and managers currently involved in infrastructure projects in Vietnam. Regression analysis was used to test five hypotheses developed from theories on project success. Three groups of factors including manager competencies, member competencies and external stability have significant positive relationships to the success criteria. The completion and implementation stages in the project life cycle are also positively related to success. The implementation stage of a project moderates both the effects of external stability and organization support on success. The implication for project managers is that implementation is the key stage in determining the success of projects.     

Entrepreneurial orientation, management commitment, and human capital: The internationalization of SMEs in India

Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) make sizeable contributions to the economic success of nations. Research concerning the internationalization of SMEs is available in the context of developed economies but less is can be found dealing specifically with the entrepreneurial behavior and international expansion of SMEs in emerging markets such as India. This research extends the literature addressing the relationships surrounding the internationalization of SMEs in India as related to entrepreneurial behavior, firm resources, and commitment to internationalization. Entrepreneurial orientation, a commitment to internationalization, and the ability to leverage human capital influence the international success of Indian SMEs, based on the analysis of data collected from 150 Indian SMEs.     

基于自由现金流量的企业价值评估:以索芙特公司为例

本文在介绍自由现金流量折现法相关原理的基础上,选取一家名为索芙特的化妆品上市公司,通过分析该上市公司过去五年的相关财务数据,并结合整个化妆品的行业环境以及该企业的发展现状,分析影响企业价值评估的宏观环境和微观环境,进而探究该公司未来五年的自由现金流量。依据两阶段自由现金流量模型估算出索芙特公司的价值。基于此,本文从调整资本结构,提高公司自由现金流量的增长率两方面对索芙特公司的价值管理提出建议。     

International joint ventures in Russia: Cultures' influences on alliance success

This paper investigates the influence of organizational culture on the strategic success of International Joint Ventures (IJVs) in Russia and the importance of cultural ‘fit’ of alliance partners within this transition economy. Difficult-to-access and rare data is gathered from a sample of IJVs manager in Russia in a strategy-as-practice approach. Questionnaires and in-depth interviews reveal different clusters of values and practices amongst managers and, contrary to previous research, the study suggests that within a transition economy values are not universally applied but influenced by tradition. Adopted organizational culture is also found to be dependent on the dominant IJV stake holding with culture influencing perceived IJV strategic performance. An element of congruency is identified between tradition and openness to change values.     

African Women in the Entrepreneurial Landscape: Reconsidering the Formal and Informal Sectors

Informal and formal sectors can be seen as “dual economies” of African countries. This article discusses the entrepreneurial landscape in Africa considering both sectors, as well as the continuum from small to large within each. It queries whether there can be mobility within and between sectors and whether upward movement, as seen elsewhere, is possible for most African entrepreneurs. The landscape displays the range of women entrepreneurs from traditional microenterprises to large informal-sector traders, from small- to large-scale formal-sector companies, as well as emerging globalists (the “new generation of African entrepreneurs”). Paradigms compare and contrast these entrepreneurs in terms of demographic variables, types of typical enterprises and companies, product sources and markets, start-up capital, networks and associations, and mobility within and between the sectors. Findings show the informal?formal distinction is useful to disentangle the landscape, but that movement between informal sector categories is not substantial because of the entry requirements of education, capital, business networks, etc. Similarly, within the formal sector of small to large businesses, limited access to capital, networks, market niches, and product innovation hinders upward mobility for most. The new generation of African entrepreneurs form an endpoint of the continuum because their global business methods, networks, financial transparency, and business ethics propel them to success. Hence, while most African women entrepreneurs are lower on the scale, there is a growing cadre of women at the top who provide role models of achievement within their countries.     

Organizational culture and post-acquisition changes in management control systems: An analysis of a successful Brazilian case

This paper analyzes the effect of organizational culture on the post-acquisition management control system (MCS) of the Brazilian company Extrativa Metalquímica Inc. after its acquisition by the FASA Participações Group. The results herein reported add to discussions of the subject and contribute to reducing the research gap in this area in Brazil. The analysis supports two major conclusions: (1) changes in the acquired company's MCS were derived from the new financial results-oriented culture introduced by the acquirer; and (2) the implementation of this culture implied modifications in production, financial and quality controls.     

Asymmetric effects of oil price changes on the balance of trade: Evidence from selected African countries

The main new contribution of this study was to delve into the asymmetric impacts of changes in oil prices on the trade balance in the framework of six major African economies. To tackle this topic carefully, we employ three measures of external balances—oil, non‐oil and total trade balances, and assess the asymmetric response of the external balances of those six economies to oil price changes in the short and long run. Like most previous studies, we first assume the impacts of oil price fluctuations to be symmetric and employ the linear autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) method to explore the topic. We then separate oil price hikes from oil price plunges and implement the non‐linear ARDL method to reveal that the price of crude oil has a vital role to play in the trade balances for those six African economies. Further, there is evidence of significant asymmetric impacts of oil prices typically on the oil trade balance of Africa's top oil producing countries. For the non‐oil and total trade balances, in contrast, there is little evidence of the asymmetry of oil price changes.     

中小型企业财务管理问题及对策探析

当前,我国很多中小型企业普遍存在资金短缺、财务制度不完善、财务管理混乱、治理能力低等问题,严重影响着企业发展。建立健全的财务管理系统是中小型企业提升管理能力、促进企业健康发展的关键环节。中小企业应全面建立财务管理体系,完善企业自身现有的财务制度;根据自身实际情况合理有效地制定一套财务管理目标;建立并运用正确的管理方式加强资金管理,控制现金流;重视并加强财务综合管理,有序进行对相关人员的再教育和培训,从而促进企业全面提高管理水平。     

Revisiting the effect of regional integration on African trade: evidence from meta-analysis and gravity model

Two main shortcomings flaw the estimation of gravity model in previous studies that examined the trade-creating effects of African Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs). First, these studies fail to account for the multilateral resistance term. This omission makes the estimates from standard gravity model bias and inconsistent. Second, there is a significant proportion of zero trade flows, however, these studies also fail to account for them properly. They use either the Tobit model or replace zero flows with arbitrary small values. Apart from these problems, they also exhibit considerable heterogeneity in the RTA effects on trade. In this paper, a meta-analysis of previous empirical studies is conducted to derive a combined effect size and also to explain the heterogeneity. In addition, I use the gravity model to compare the trade-creating effect of the main African RTAs. Using the gravity model, I compare the estimation methods of previous studies to the Poisson pseudo-maximum-likelihood estimator that tackles the zero flows. From the meta-analysis, I find a general positive effect of African RTAs of about 27%–32%. A comparative assessment of the RTAs using gravity model shows a striking heterogeneity.     

Sales management: Learning and innovation in Japan

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine ways to promote learning, based on four empirical studies of salespeople and sales departments in Japan. First, analyses of survey data of 192 real estate salespeople indicated that customer- and goal achievement-oriented sales beliefs enhanced experiential learning at work. Second, analyses of data of 193 sales departments indicated that customer orientation in sales departments promotes innovation by facilitating task conflict and preventing process conflict. Third, analyses of survey research of 199 sales departments indicated that behavior-based and knowledge-based management control systems are effective at promoting learning and innovation. Finally, a case study of Nippon Boehringer Ingelheim (NBI) revealed several ways to facilitate learning using a behavior-based sales management control system. Theoretical implications for sales management systems were examined.