Enterprises,incentives and networks: The formative years of the electrical network in Portugal, 1920–1947

Path-dependence, the formation of technological irreversibilities and ownership patterns, have recently been salient aspects in the study of historical networks. This article analyses the formative years of public utilities in a period where the advantages of co-ordination, interconnection or integration between enterprises was still incipient. The purpose is to understand what happens when the competition to expand the physical extensions of nodes and links is suddenly blocked, and the enterprises can only compete to increase supply. The theme is thus of network enterprises operating without some of the standard incentives to economies of scale. The allocational and distributional consequences of this particular situation are exposed through an examination of the case study of Portuguese electrification in the first half of the twentieth century.     

Linking international adaptation strategy,immigrant effect,and performance: The case of home–host and cross-market scenario

Previous studies suggest that a proper fit between business strategy and human resource management can enhance a firm's financial performance. Building on prior findings, this study proposes that an ideal match could occur on the choice of international adaptation strategy and immigrant effect (IE). This match would have a significant effect on firms’ financial performance. The proposed framework is examined using the experience of 121 firms operating across the Greater China region in the home–host and cross-market scenarios. It is found that the extent of adaptation strategy is positively associated with the choice of IE in both home–host and cross-market scenarios and that IE has significant direct and indirect effects on market share and profitability in the cross-market scenario. This study proposes a new strategy–human resource management-performance framework. The findings established provide some implications for researchers and managers.     

Rhetorics of saving–investment correlations and the international mobility of capital: A survey

This study surveys the literature on saving–investment (SI) correlations and international mobility of capital (IMC) generated over more than three decades since the 1980s. Several studies have shown the presence of paradoxically high SI correlations for the developed countries with observed high IMC, and low SI correlations for the developing countries with observed low IMC. The studies accounting for structural breaks in model parameters provide dominant support for the decrease in SI correlations and increase in IMC after the switch from fixed to flexible exchange rate regime and the removal of policy restrictions on capital flows. The intertemporal optimisation approach to current account and the open-economy growth and dynamic stochastic general equilibrium models mainly provide theoretical predictions and suggest that it is possible to find high SI correlations in the wake of high IMC. The increases in international capital flows have been the natural corollary of the growth of international trade in goods and services and increases in foreign direct investment flows. It is these factors, rather than international trade in capital market securities (bonds and equities) driven by the diversification benefits of financial portfolios per se, that have been the key levers of international financial flows.     

The Role of Infomediaries: CSR in the Business Press During 2000–2009

Given the important role that business media play in corporate life, scarce attention has been paid to the role of media in the construction and popularization of corporate social responsibility (CSR). In this article, we understand media as a key infomediary and examine how the business press has framed and presented CSR over the last 10 years. Based on a content analysis of how CSR is presented in two English-language business newspapers with an international readership, we develop a framework for understanding the role of business media setting the corporate CSR agenda. The results show that business media contribute to the construction of what CSR means in corporate practice by creating links between CSR and certain corporate activities, between CSR and arguments that strengthen the view of CSR as a business case, and between CSR and certain spokespersons. These links contribute to create a notion of what CSR stands for, what it means in practice, and why it is important that one should pay attention to.     

‘The trauma of competition’: The entry of Air Products Inc. into the industrial gases business in Britain and continental Europe, 1947–70

The British Oxygen Company (BOC) had a virtual monopoly on the supply of industrial gases (e.g. oxygen and acetylene) on the British market through the 1950s, when it was finally challenged by an American-based company, Air Products. Air Products Limited (APL) was able to undercut BOC's position, overcoming high barriers to entry to gain significant market share in this sector, which shares some features of network industries. Factors in this success included conditions imposed by the Board of Trade, APL's innovations, BOC's slow response, and favourable market conditions. APL's success had implications for the internationalisation of the industrial gases industry.     

The expansion of branding in international marketing: The case of olive oil, 1870s–1930s

Abstract

Drawing on a variety of sources, this article investigates the emergence and expansion of branding in the international olive oil markets prior to World War II. It documents the rapid growth of the world trade in packaged olive oil from the 1870s onwards and shows that the main destinations of this consumer-ready product were in the Americas. In this respect, it complements previous findings based on the use of trademark registration figures. The article then argues that the expansion of canned and branded olive oil exports to the New World was the result of three interconnected factors: the mass migration of southern Europeans in the late nineteenth century and the formation of a new market on the other side of the Atlantic; significant transformations in the commodity chain of the product in the Americas during the first third of the twentieth century; and the problems of quality uncertainty and fraud in the emerging New World markets for olive oil. By analysing these factors, this study also provides evidence to further the debate on the purpose of branding and modern marketing.     

The impact of institutional distance on the international diversity–performance relationship

We investigated the impact of institutional distance on the international diversity–performance relationship. We first discussed the international diversity–performance relationship for large multinational firms and later showed the moderation effect of regulative and normative institutional distance. Based on a sample of Fortune 500 firms, we found an inverted U-shaped curve. Regulative institutional distance has a negative moderating effect on the international diversity–performance relationship, while normative institutional distance shows a positive effect.     

Claim and control: The functions of patents in the example of Berkel, 1898–1948

This article tries to provide a balanced view of firm patenting. Two different literatures provide two different functions of patents: patents enable a firm to claim a technology and they enable a firm to control that technology and to control markets. This article argues that claim and control are complementary functions, and that both need to be taken into account, but also that control gains in importance over time. It does so with a case study of the Dutch firm Berkel (Van Berkel's Patent) in the first half century of its existence. Berkel was a large and leading company in the development of meat slicing machines and compiled an extensive portfolio of patents.     

Restructuring of the Danish pork industry: The role of mergers and takeovers, 1960–2010

This article examines the origins and effects of the evolution of the Danish pork industry characterised by three main merger waves resulting in 43 realised mergers and takeovers. The findings illuminate – in contrast to the traditional strategically motivated rationale – that the majority of the mergers were realised by cooperatives due to the inability to give the pig farmers competitive yearly refunds vis-à-vis local competitors, to financial difficulties or to the lack of investment capability of one of the merging parties. Despite a high-risky strategy, mergers and takeovers became the preferred consolidation mean due to capital constrains and the ‘close’ ownership structure of the cooperatives. Moreover, the study demonstrates that the outcomes of the M&A activities were generally positive.     

A retrospective on the state of international advertising research in advertising,communication, and marketing journals: 1963–2014

Scanning from the earliest to the recent literature on international advertising research, this study aimed to provide a more comprehensive and detailed picture of the research trends and patterns across the advertising, marketing, and communication disciplines over the past half century. Findings exhibit continuous growth in terms of the quantity of international advertising studies. While theoretical foundations need to be further solidified and elaborated, methodological and statistical rigors have been increasingly underpinned in international advertising research. Further, this study recognized authorial and institutional productivity, and influential articles in the field of international advertising research. The finding indicates that scholarly endeavors are necessary for diversity of countries studied in future research.     

The Development of Management Information Systems in the British Coal Industry,c.1880–1947 1

The objective of this study is to discuss whether the management of public enterprises in Sweden can be considered as a special type of managerial capitalism. Empirical evidence is offered from the development of railroads and electrification. The construction of railroads and electrification was of great concern to the Swedish government. The Public Railroads (SJ) and the State Water Power Board did not have a monopoly but played a leading role each on its specific market. They did not develop into independent companies because the central government always made the strategic decisions. Consequently managerial capitalism by Chandler's definition was not at hand.     

Associational autonomy or political influence? The case of the cooperation between the Danish Dairies' Buttermark Association and the Danish state, 1900–1912

Studies show that it may be risky for business associations to cooperate with the state. Trapped in a dilemma between a ‘logic of membership’ and a ‘logic of influence’, these associations may obtain political influence from cooperation but only at the risk of losing their associational autonomy, which often leads to dissatisfaction among members. This article presents an illustrative example of the loss of associational autonomy within the context of agricultural corporatism, namely the cooperation between the Buttermark Association (BA) and the Danish state on a law-supported branch trademark for all Danish butter intended to ensure high quality and hinder the fraudulent sale and adulteration of milk. This trademark is the famous lur brand required by Danish law from 1906 and still in use today.