The newly industrializing countries,trade, and adjustment in the OECD economies

There has been much discussion of the Newly Industrializing Countries (NICs) in recent years and various studies of their impact have been made. Much of the concern about NICs in the industrialized countries is however based on what they portend for the future rather than their present impact. This article, which draws on the work of a group of researchers coordinated from the Royal Institute of International Affairs, London, discusses the implications of the NICs for trade and adjustment in the 1980s.     

The investment development path of newly developed countries

According to foreign direct investment (FDI) path theory, developed countries are grouped into two phases, known as the fourth and fifth phases. Fourth‐phase countries (newly developed economies) show a technological and institutional “gap” in comparison with fifth‐phase economies, which explains their lesser capacity to generate direct investment. We found that these countries, which were less developed economies in the 1980s, had undergone a deep structural transformation. This transformation encouraged the multinationalization of firms, which is a differentiating element and one outcome of their development process. These results have clear policy implications: the governments of newly developed countries should take steps to increase the endowment of knowledge‐intensive assets. The main contribution of this paper is the theoretical reformulation of the fourth phase of the investment development path theory.     

The case for debt-forgiveness for Latin America and the Caribbean countries

Resource transfer to Latin America and the Caribbean was negative throughouthe eighties. Debt-forgiveness would benefit not only the debtor countries, however. Lending countries and institutions would also stand to gain.     

Economic nationalism and foreign acquisition completion: The case of China

Extending institutional theory, we incorporate a neglected but important component of formal institution, economic nationalism, into a model that specifies its effects on cross-border acquisition success. We suggest that economic nationalism has a dynamic nature and sees the interaction between protectionism and liberalism. As such, it exerts both positive and negative effects on foreign investments, contingent on how these investments are perceived as aligned with the national interests as reflected by national security considerations, foreign relations, and growth strategy. Using a data set containing 7275 announced cross-border acquisition deals in China during 1985–2010, the study finds that (1) when an acquisition activity targets essential industries or state-owned enterprises, it is less likely to be completed because of provoked national economic security concerns; and (2) when an acquirer brings technology and/or capital, or/and helps to restructure poorly-performing firms, or/and the acquirer comes from a country with good foreign relations with China, the acquisition is considered as safe and helpful for the country's development, and it is more likely to be completed.     

Corporate images' impact on consumers' product choices: The case of multinational foreign subsidiaries

The aim of this study is to ascertain the extent to which consumers' images of home and foreign business units, and their perceptions of the corporate images held by other stakeholders, influence their buying behavior. The sample consisted of high school students in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) who intended or expected to enter higher education. Using a survey questionnaire, we asked respondents about the extent to which they believed their overall impressions of foreign universities operating in the UAE were influenced by images of the institutions' home and UAE campuses and by their perceptions of the images held by other stakeholders. We found that when deciding on whether or not to buy from a foreign firm, consumers will be most influenced by the corporate images held by other stakeholders rather than the images of home and foreign business units constructed by themselves. These findings suggest that it would be advisable for firms to adopt a stakeholder perspective when developing and implementing their marketing strategy.     

Regulatory changes and information competition: The case of Taiwan index futures

This article examines the cross‐border competition in price discovery between the Taiwan Futures Exchange (TAIFEX) and the Singapore Exchange Derivatives Trading (SGX). We focused on the impact of market reforms on the information leadership of similar contracts traded on the two exchanges. Utilizing synchronized transaction data, it was found that reducing the futures transferring tax was the only policy change that enhanced TAIFEX's information role. Evidence supported the trading‐cost hypothesis that a lower transaction cost is associated with better price discovery. A brief linkage between trading volume and price discovery was found when data were broken down into subperiods according to the relative volume of TAIFEX and SGX. Evidence suggested that the SGX's information advantage reported in previous research had diminished as the rival market progressed. It also indicated that exchanges seeking to improve information efficiency should adopt policies that will reduce transaction costs or increase trading volume. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Jrl Fut Mark 24:399–412, 2004     

Technology in the textile and clothing industries: implications for developing countries

Textile and clothing production has changed from a craft-oriented skill to a mechanical means of mass-production in the developed world since the Industrial Revolution, but has remained as an artisan-based industry in the Third World. With the availability of modern techniques to developing nations, however, there is a risk that industrialization may eliminate this craft aspect. The end result of its appearance may well be a major loss, both of unique characteristics and of products prized for their originality by connoisseurs of fine textiles.     

Export performance of small firms from small countries: The case of New Zealand

Drawing on traditional models of multinational expansion and organisational learning, Brouthers et al. (J Int Mark 17:21–38, 2009) prescribe that in some circumstances, small firms exporting from small countries should concentrate their exports into a single overseas market. These particular circumstances pertain to small Greek and Caribbean exporters in mature low-technology industries. This research extends this 2009 study to the same size group of small firms in another small country, New Zealand. Model estimation involved multiple regression methods on survey data from 249 small New Zealand exporters. Contrasting with Brouthers et al.’s advice, this study finds that small New Zealand exporters should not concentrate their exports into one or a few overseas markets. Success for these small firms stemmed from higher rates of R&D expenditure and multi-market exporting through company-owned channels in distant markets. These differences reflect the different environments and sample characteristics between the two studies. The paper contextualises further the evidence base on the strategies that small firm owner-managers should pursue and policy makers should promote.     

The effect of overspending on tariff choices and customer churn: Evidence from mobile plan choices

Understanding the relation between consumer overspending, tariff choices and customer churn is extremely important in many industries. If consumers are insensitive to their overspending and keep making mistakes in tariff choices, firms may profit from overspending and do not have to worry about customer churn. In this paper, using a rich panel data from a major mobile network operator in China, we show evidence that consumers respond to financial incentives and try to reduce overspending by switching to another plan or terminating the relationships with the operator. Given the trade-off between profiting from overspending and reducing customer churn faced by the operator, we conduct a simple policy simulation and show that the operator should encourage consumers to reduce their overspending. We also show that the effects of switching decisions on future overspending and the hazard of churn differ among upward switchers (i.e. consumers who switch to a larger plan) and downward switchers (i.e., consumers who switch to a smaller plan). Specifically, we find that consumers who switch down are more likely to reduce their future overspending, while consumers who switch up are less likely to churn.     

Status consumption in newly emerging countries: The influence of personality traits and the mediating role of motivation to consume conspicuously

In emerging countries, individuals’ tendency to consume status products to display their wealth and new lifestyle is rising. To unlock the underlmathying reasons for consuming status products in emerging countries, this study brings attention to the mediating role of motivation to consume conspicuously as a missing link between consumers’ personality traits - susceptibility to interpersonal influence, need for uniqueness and status consumption. Using social identity and social comparison theory and drawing on data from 269 Bangladeshi individuals, we found that status consumption is positively influenced by susceptibility to interpersonal influence and need for uniqueness. We also found that the relationship between susceptibility to interpersonal influence and status consumption is partially mediated by the motivation to consume conspicuously. However, the results show that the relationship between need for uniqueness and status consumption is not mediated by the motivation to consume conspicuously.     

Willingness to work for multinational enterprises from emerging countries: The case of Chinese multinational enterprises in the Netherlands

How do perceptions of country-of-origin image (COI) relate to willingness of Western people to work for subsidiaries in advanced countries of multinational enterprises from emerging countries (EMNEs)? We seek to shed light on this question by exploring six hypotheses based on environment-processing metatheory. Applying a PLS-SEM analysis of online survey data from the Netherlands, we find that the COI and familiarity with the EMNE’s home country are positively associated with willingness to work. Additionally, we reveal a few mediating effects indicating that familiarity and individual difference are indirectly related to willingness to work. This study contributes to our understanding of the inability of EMNEs to attract talent in the Western world by adding a macro perspective to the human resource management literature. Furthermore, we extend environment-processing metatheory by expanding the focus from the perceived internal context (corporate information) to the perceived external environment (country of origin), as well as to the antecedents (familiarity and individual differences) of the perceived environment.     

National institutional systems,foreign ownership and firm performance: The case of understudied countries

We analyse the relationship between institutional systems (configurations of countries with similar institutional characteristics) and firm performance. We use a large sample of firms from understudied countries to explore whether the performance impact of these configurations is the same (“equifinality”), whether this holds across different measures of firm performance (“Tversky effect”), and whether some institutional configurations better support foreign-owned firms. We find that it is possible to rank institutional systems according to their impact on firm performance, but the ranking differs according to the performance measure. Although foreign ownership on average confers performance advantages, the magnitude of the impact depends on the configuration. Our findings contribute to the understanding of the importance of institutional similarities across countries, and to the implications of these similarities for the theory of the MNE.     

The market economy: No panacea for developing countries

The controversy about the pros and cons of state interference in the economy has become much more heated in recent years. In the industrialised countries this can be gauged from the debate about deregulation and privatisation. The proposition that the more market-oriented the economy the more successful it will be is also relevant to policy in developing countries. The following article shows, however, that there is no simple, universally valid link between a country’s economic system and its achievements in the development field.     

Strategy profiles of indigenous MNEs from the NIEs: The case of South Korea and Taiwan

Despite the argument for stateless firms and global strategy, few deny the existing heterogeneities between nations. However, the linkages between national context, corporate strategy, and market performance have not been adequately studied. This study integrates the fragmented, discipline-based literature of international business, cross-cultural management, organization theory, and strategic management to construct a framework for strategic management of multinational enterprises (MNEs), and explores the linkages between national context, corporate strategy, and market performance among the leading computer MNEs from South Korea and Taiwan. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

中国企业跨国并购的动因——兼谈邓宁国际生产折衷理论在发展中国家跨国并购中的适用性

在经济全球化的过程中，跨国并购的迅速增长是一个引人注目的现象。近些年来推动FDI的动力主要来自于跨国并购，且跨国并购显现出主体多元化的趋势。跨国并购虽然仍以发达国家之间的相互并购为主，但这次明显呈现出向发展中国家拓展的趋势。中国加入WTO后，已经成为国际并购的热点地区。然而，中国企业不再只是被并购的对象，同时也作为并购走     

Market reaction to international joint venture announcement: The case of developed versus less developed countries

Joint ventures across national borders are more advantageous than other forms of international diversification because they afford a better control of technology usage, require a minimal level of cash investment, and present a more effective means of avoiding intervention from the host government. All of these characteristics make international joint ventures uniquely suitable for investments in less developed countries. This paper ascertains whether investors agree with the above sentiment by examining the stock market response to 41 announcements of international joint ventures during 1985-1987, using the event study method. It was found that the stock of the multinational corporations announcing international joint ventures generally outperforms the market In addition, the market reaction to the announcement of international joint ventures in less developed countries is, on average, more favorable than its reaction to the announcement of international joint ventures in developed countries.     

Making choices under conflict: The impact of decision frames

How do people make choices when they see two equally positive versus two equally negative decision alternatives? The cancel-and-focus hypothesis argues that when people see options in a sequence, they tend to overweight the unique attributes of the first alternative. This leads to the prediction that when both options are positive (approach–approach conflict), the first option is preferred more but that if they are both negative (avoidance-avoidance conflict), the first option is preferred less. Based on recent research, we argue that this finding may be contingent on an unrecognized compatibility confound with the decision frame of choosing versus rejecting. In this research, we argue that the choice biases predicted by the cancel-and-focus hypothesis will be more pronounced when the decision frame (choose/reject) is incompatible with the valence of the alternatives (reject–positive and choose–negative) because such incompatibility increases processing motivation. We report two studies with varying operationalizations of decision conflict which find that cancel-and-focus effects are more pronounced under incompatibility. Taken together, these findings suggest that conflict effects are better understood by accounting for the decision frame as well.