Competing successfully in a global economy

This commentary discusses the need for an internationalist approach in today's competitive global markets. Albert C. Bersticker, Chairman and CEO of Ferro Corporation, a US multinational in operation since 1919, draws upon his experience at the helm of a successful and growing manufacturing operation and gives several important lessons for strategic and competitive management of an international corporation. Bersticker elucidates the challenges facing today's global business manager, and puts the overall mission of any company doing business overseas into an appropriate context. Being aware of both the risks and benefits of competing in an ever-changing world is the key to success in the global economy according to the author. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Marketing in the global economy: Creditworthiness

The importance of accurate credit information on potential clients and customers is even more critical when doing business overseas—a thorough check before committing resources is always a good idea.     

Learning and knowledge diffusion in a global economy

I develop a dynamic general equilibrium model to understand how multinationals affect host countries through knowledge diffusion. Workers in the model learn from their managers and knowledge diffusion takes place through worker mobility. Unlike in a model without learning, I present a novel mechanism through which an integrated equilibrium represents a Pareto improvement for the host country. I go on to explore other dynamic consequences of integration. The entry of multinationals makes the lifetime earning profiles of host country workers steeper. At the same time, if agents learn fast enough, integration creates unequal opportunities, thereby widening inequality. The ex-workers of foreign multinationals also found new firms which are, on average, larger than the largest firms under autarky.     

Customer-based execution strategy in a global digital economy

Multinational corporations (MNCs) are continuing to invest more in expanding into new markets around the world. These firms are faced with determining the optimal go-to-market strategy in these heterogeneous new markets to attract and retain profitable customers. This paper provides an organizing framework to help firms develop profitable customer-level strategies across countries in the digital environment. We start by providing a summary of the marketing literature on a customer-based execution strategy. Next, we discuss how the evolving digital landscape is affecting firms’ relationships with customers and describe some of the current digital product and process innovations in the marketplace. We discuss boundary conditions for how these digital product and process innovations might affect profitable customer strategies in a global context. In addition, we discuss implementation challenges that MNCs will likely face in deploying these customer-level strategies and other stakeholders (outside of customers) that will likely play a role in the execution of these customer-level strategies. Finally, we summarize set of research questions to guide future research on customer-level strategies in a global digital context.     

A resource-based analysis of sustainable competitive advantage in a global environment

The extant business literature on global competitive advantage has been dominated by a contingency-based approach, which advocates the attainment of fit between the firm's strategy, structures and processes and its competitive conditions. However, most support for this view has been anecdotal and rigorous empirical evidence has been lacking. This study adopts a more voluntaristic stance, and integrates perspectives from international business and strategic management to propose a resource-based model of global sustainable competitive advantage (GSCA). A series of hypotheses are presented on the nature of global resources and on the relationships between these resources and sustained superior performance. The model is tested on a sample of firms in the global automotive components industry with promising results. Conclusions are drawn and the implications for research and practice are outlined.     

A global market advantage framework: the role of global market knowledge competencies

The globalization forces engender companies to develop a new set of competencies that would enable the generation of abnormal returns in the global marketplace. This article reviews the extant literature regarding the effect of globalization on organizations and develops a conceptual framework that underlines the importance of knowledge management competencies in creating global market advantage. The knowledge management competencies consist of global customer, competitor and supplier knowledge development, inter-functional coordination and value chain coordination. The relationship between global market knowledge competencies and global market advantage is partially mediated by company's responsiveness. Global market advantage is positively associated with company's strategic and financial performance.     

Reconciling the irreconcilable: The global economy and the environment

This paper focusses on the relationship among structural adjustment policies and practices, the business activities of transnational corporations and what Robert Reich has called the coming irrelevance of corporate nationality. The argument presented is that the force of these combined factors makes environmental sustainability impossible.Dr. Deborah Poff is a professor of philosophy and the Dean of Arts and Science at the University of Northern British Columbia. Professor Poff has published extensively in the areas of feminism, equity, violence and applied ethics. She is the editor of theJournal of Business Ethics.     

Bi-sourcing in the global economy

In organizing production, many firms conduct bi-sourcing, i.e., acquiring the same set of inputs both by buying from external suppliers (outsourcing) and carrying out in-house production (insourcing). We show that, by adopting the bi-sourcing strategy, firms can use the payoff from one supplier as a backup option in negotiating with the other supplier (the cross-threat effect). When firms conduct bi-sourcing in the global economy consisting of the high-waged North and low-waged South, they need to make the location choice for both insourcing and outsourcing. We find that the low wage in the South can encourage investment by component suppliers (the cost effect). However, firms may achieve a better cross-threat effect by relocating overly strong component supplier from the cost-advantageous South to the cost-disadvantageous North (the balancing effect). The optimal bi-sourcing strategy is determined by the interplay of the cost effect and the balancing effect.     

The strategic challenge of the evolving global economy

The world economy is in a period of rapid change. New market forces are emerging as the economic center of gravity continues moving westward toward the Orient. The technological revolution is likely to equal the industrial revolution in its impact on the global economy. How are industrial countries responding to these changing markets and technologies?     

Getting what we wish for: The realities of business education for a global economy

Business schools around the world have embraced globalization and, as a result, attempted to attract international students to their programs. Teaching diverse student groups has many advantages, but is not without its challenges, including cultural differences in educational expectations and student self-efficacy. The goal of this article is to suggest that we can create plans and activities capable of helping Asian students adapt more quickly to the expectations of Western education. We herein describe Rotterdam Business School's experiences in working with a diverse—mainly Asian—population of students, focusing on strategies that may assist them in adapting to the expectations of the global business school classroom.     

Monetary policy in the transition to a market economy: The case of Hungary

In the centrally planned economies of Eastern Europe, monetary policy played a subordinate role, there were no capital-market institutions and the banking system was single-tier. All this has to be changed in the transition to a market economy. The example of Hungary, which abolished the traditional system of central planning as early as 1968, shows some of the pitfalls to be avoided.     

全球经济失衡与调整的政治经济学分析

美国金融危机爆发以来,全球经济失衡及其调整逐渐成为世界主要国家争论与战略博弈的一个焦点问题。本文在分析全球经济失衡的内涵及其成本的基础上,重点探讨了全球失衡的国内调整与国家间调整,认为寻求国内不同利益集团的利益平衡和主要相关国家之间失衡调整成本分担的平衡是决定全球经济失衡调整能否成功的关键。     

Slow recovery in the global economy

The weakness of the world economy continued even after the end of the Iraq war, with demand and output showing only modest signs of improvement. Will the expectations of recent months, which have again become distinctly more optimistic, prove to be exaggerated? Or is the global economy, thanks to highly expansive monetary policies in many countries, on the brink of sustained recovery? Is a synchronised upswing probable, or will an economic growth engine again be needed to lead the way forward?