The effects of innovative capabilities on exporting: Do institutional forces matter?

We challenge the assumption that innovative capabilities are always beneficial for exporting by developing and testing the premise that export performance is contingent on firm- and location-specific institutional idiosyncrasies. Testing our framework against a large dataset for China, we demonstrate that foreign ownership, business group affiliation, and the degree of marketization of the region where the firm operates positively moderate the effects of innovative capabilities on export performance. Government relationships have a stronger positive moderating effect on the innovation–export relationship in regions with a high level of marketization only. Our findings suggest that the relationship between innovative capabilities and export performance is not uniform but rather contingent upon the institutional setting in which the firm is embedded. These results have important implications for how policymakers promote exporting and open up new theoretical avenues for conceptualizing the internationalization implications of innovation.     

Antecedents and consequences of psychological contracts: Does organizational culture really matter?

Exploring the role of psychological contracts, this study proposes that different organizational cultures are associated with relational psychological contracts compared to transactional contracts while both types of contracts serve as mediators. While clan cultures positively impact relational contracts and are negatively associated with transactional contracts, hierarchical cultures have the reverse effect. In addition, psychological contract types mediate the two culture types' relationship to both organizational commitment and employee yearly earnings. In sum, clan cultures relate to more positive organizational outcomes than hierarchical cultures, a finding which as implications for future research and practice.     

Does rivals' innovation matter? A competitive dynamics perspective on firms' product strategy

We build on the awareness-motivation-capability (AMC) framework of competitive dynamics research to examine how a signal of a rival's innovation, in the form of research and development (R&D) intensity, may influence a focal firm's product actions. We argue that a rival's R&D intensity increases a focal firm's awareness of a competitive threat and thus its motivation to react by increasing its product actions. However, this competitive impact is conditional on the focal firm's size and performance relative to the rival, as well as the strategic homogeneity of the two. We use the AMC framework to analyze such moderating effects.     

How innovation impacts firms' export survival: Does export mode matter?

The innovation-export nexus has been extensively explored, while relatively few studies have focused on innovation's impact on firms' export survival and the role of export mode. Using a large panel dataset from China, this research empirically explores how innovation impacts firms' export survival, considering export modes. First, we employ the discrete-time survival analysis model (cloglog) to examine this research addressing the censored issue. Second, the propensity score matching (PSM) methodology is employed to address the selection-bias issue and select the similar firms based on which to compare their Kaplan–Meier survivor probability. Results present a positive role of innovation in the export survival of direct exporters; however, there is an inverted-U relationship between innovation intensity and their survival probability. For indirect exporters, evidence shows an insignificant innovation-export survival nexus. In addition, results show higher export survival for Chinese innovative exporters who are foreign-owned, highly export-intensive, long-lasting in export market, in technology industries. For innovative exporters who export directly, those in medium and low-technological industries and export capital goods are more likely to survive. Our research provides insights for Chinese exporters regarding innovation participation and suggests the government conducting prudent and deliberate design for innovation strategy.     

Does quality of innovation,culture and governance drive FDI?: Evidence from emerging markets

This study examines how technology, culture and corporate governance drive inward FDI in emerging economies. A study of 22 emerging economies shows that technology is the major attractive factor influencing inward FDI. Further, FDI increases as technology absorption and innovation capacity increase. The greater the quality of country governance, the greater the influence of corporate governance on FDI. Cultural dimensions such as individualism, masculinity and uncertainty avoidance exhibit a weaker influence on inward FDI, while power distance and indulgence have a stronger influence on inward FDI. Our results support the leapfrogging approach of emerging economies towards promoting innovation and enhancing technology adoption to drive FDI. Interaction effect of country governance further highlighted that the better the governance of a country the impact of technology, innovation, corporate governance and culture in attracting inward FDI also increases.     

Impact of trade openness on GDP growth: Does TFP matter?

ABSTRACT

The objective of this study is to empirically explore the impact of trade openness on GDP growth initiating with the idea that trade openness cannot be fully characterized through the different openness measures only, we propose to account for total factor productivity (TFP) development level as an additional dimension of countries’ trade integration. Our empirical application is based on 35 years’ balanced panel of 82 countries spanning 1980–2014. To address the potential endogeneity issue, we use the system GMM estimator developed for dynamic panel data models. The results outline that there exists an interesting non-linear pattern between trade openness and GDP growth when TFP development level is taken as an intervening variable into account: trade may have a negative impact on GDP growth when countries have specialized in low-TFP development level; trade openness clearly boosts GDP growth once countries exhibit a minimum threshold of TFP development level. Therefore, there is some pattern of complementarity between trade openness and TFP development level so that the higher the TFP development level, the higher the impact of the trade openness on GDP growth.     

Does ownership type matter for innovation? Evidence from China

According to the institution-based view, ownership type is a key variable affecting environment-strategy configurations. This study configures the mechanism in which ownership types (as an institutional factor) moderate the effect of innovation strategies on firms' innovation performance. An empirical analysis was conducted on Chinese hi-tech manufacturing firms, using information related to the innovation activities of 303 firms. The empirical results suggest that ownership type affects the positive relationship between three sources of innovation (internal R&D activities, partnering with alliance partners, and partnering with universities) and innovation performance, as well as the negative relationship between external contracting and innovation performance (product or process innovation). The results imply that organizations doing business in China must be aware of the business environment that they intend to enter, especially if the intention is to develop new products or innovate current business processes.     

Does maturity matter? The case of treasury futures volume

We find that Treasury futures volume contains information about future economic and financial market conditions. Short- and long-term volumes are economically different: A relatively higher volume in short-term (long-term) Treasury futures is counter-cyclical (procyclical), preceding worse (better) economic and financial conditions. Further, we construct a single factor from futures volumes of different maturities that forecasts the performances of Treasury securities and the corporate debt and equity markets, as well as macroeconomic conditions. Our results are consistent with the notion that futures volumes from different market segments reflect differences in beliefs and contain different information about future financial and economic activity.     

The mitigating effects of uncertainty on ‘e’ innovation propensity: some service sector evidence

This paper reports the findings of a study that sought to explore a range of technical, financial and social issues that the literature suggests influences e-innovation propensity. The research was conducted on a sample of knowledge-intensive business service SMEs in Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland and New Zealand within a business-to-consumer context. Qualitative methodologies (in-depth interviews and projective techniques) were employed to investigate the research problem. The findings highlight a number of specific issues that call into question the value of an e-business strategy, such as uncertainties surrounding knowledge acquisition, disintermediation effects and sustainability of an e-business. These issues continue to negate e-innovation propensity. The paper proposes practical suggestions to alleviate the mitigating effects of uncertainty that are impacting on e-innovation propensity. The conclusions derived from this research, along with the modelling of the uncertainty factors extend existing knowledge and also set the precedent for further empirical research in other country and industry settings.     

Managing loyalty program communications in the digital era: Does culture matter?

This research addresses an important, yet under-researched, issue concerning the real-time management of loyalty programs (LPs) in the digital era: how to leverage culture-specific communications to motivate LP members to pursue and redeem program rewards. Two experimental studies in different LP contexts provide corroborating evidence that to-date (to-go) progress feedback is more effective in motivating consumers from individualist (collectivist) cultures to pursue LP rewards. Moreover, process evidence suggests that these culture-specific progress framing effects are driven by individual differences in regulatory focus and realized through perceived reward attainability. Overall, this paper contributes to the LP and goal pursuit literatures by verifying that communication framing is an effective means to strengthen reward pursuit motivation.     

Human development effects of large changes in food prices: Does openness policy matter?

This paper analyses the effects of food price shocks on selected disaggregated human development indicators and investigates the role of openness policy in mitigating the adverse effects of large changes in food prices. Using a panel of 74 developing countries from 1980 to 2012, I find that positive food price shocks reduce life expectancy at birth both in the fixed-effect model and in the dynamic panel model while negative food price shocks do not seem to matter for this human development indicator in the static model but adversely affect it in the dynamic model. I also find that both positive and negative shocks have no effect on youth literacy rate; this probably means that households do not react to food price shocks by taking children out of school. Analysing the role of commercial openness, I find that openness policy enhances countries’ capacity to manage the adverse effects of food price shocks on life expectancy at birth. This suggests that the tempting policy option of reducing openness to trade during food price shocks is not an efficient choice as regards the human development. Countries must therefore set institutional arrangements that could prevent policy-makers from taking this inefficient policy option.     

The extension of animosity model of foreign product purchase: Does country of origin matter?

Although a growing literature has investigated how animosity and consumer ethnocentrism change customers’ perceptions of foreign products in developed markets, research examining these effects in developing markets is scarce. Additionally, the role of country of origin on such effects has received far less attention. The current paper is developed to bridge these gaps. The primary objectives of this paper are to examine whether the animosity and consumer ethnocentrism models that work in the Western world could be applied into a developing market like Vietnam, and whether these relationships are moderated by country of origin (USA versus China). Data from 485 Vietnamese customers illustrate that most of the main effects are significant except for the relationship between ethnocentrism and product judgement, and the relationship between cosmopolitanism and willingness to buy. Furthermore, out of the three moderation effects, the influence of country of origin on the relationship between ethnocentrism and willingness to buy is significant. The paper concludes with theoretical and managerial implications, limitations, and future research.     

Effects of outdoor advertising: Does location matter?

The growth and success of outdoor advertising is in large part due to the medium's ability to reach an increasingly elusive and mobile consumer. However, this success has come with a price. Public pressure and regulation have begun to eliminate or curtail many outdoor advertising locations, leading practitioners to question the effectiveness of the remaining outdoor advertising sites. Using associative learning techniques, these studies investigate what effect, if any, the environment in which outdoor advertising appears has on the attitudes, beliefs, and purchase intent of the advertised brand. The results of four experiments presented here suggest that the background environment does not impact advertising effectiveness, and practitioner concern of such may be unfounded. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Effect of financial development on international trade in Africa: Does measure of finance matter?

Although improving international trade on the back of financial sector development is one of the preoccupations of countries in Africa, empirical literature on financial development-trade nexus has not been rigorous in examining how finance shapes trade. In this study, we examine the effect of financial development on international trade in Africa relying on data for 46 countries over the period 1980–2015. Results from our system generalized method of moments reveal differential effects of finance on trade. In particular, we notice that, private credit does not promote trade while domestic credit positively affects trade. These effects are robust to measures of trade. Thus, improving the level of private (domestic) credit dampens (amplifies) exports and trade openness. However, we also find a U-shaped relationship between private credit and trade measures suggesting that financial sector development may be detrimental (helpful) to trade for economies with low (high) level of private credit.     

Consumer multihoming predisposition on food platforms: Does gender matter?

Although food platforms are witnessing greater competition and shrinking margins in emerging markets, consumer multihoming remains an underexplored phenomenon. Previous studies highlight the inverse relationship between consumers' commitment to service providers and their multihoming behaviour. Also, behavioural studies confirm the relationship between consumers' commitment and gender. In this vein, we ask a fundamental question: whether gender is associated with user multihoming predisposition? Based on the questionnaire survey of 493 food platform users and the Kruskal–Wallis H (K–W–H) analysis used, we establish a direct association between gender and multihoming. The probit analysis suggests higher multihoming promiscuousness among male consumers than among female consumers. Moreover, we conclude that the frequency of platform usage positively affects multihoming behaviour among female consumers, while education affects multihoming in males. The study thus builds upon existing food platform literature and provides an epistemological connection between gender and multihoming. Further, it outlines strategies that platform firms can use to restrain their clientele from multihoming.     

Does it transfer? The effects of pre-internationalization experience on post-entry organizational learning in entrepreneurial Chinese firms

Although organizational learning plays a critical role in the internationalization of firms, researchers have largely focused on learning that occurs after a firm’s international entry (“learning by doing”). Few studies have discussed how a firm’s experiences prior to international entry affect its organizational learning after entry. Using a sample of Chinese internationalizers, we argue that pre-entry characteristics will influence organizational learning after international entry. We argue and show that prior experience with international companies in the domestic market is transferable and does affect an organization’s post-entry learning through a mechanism called analogical reasoning or “learning by analogy.”     

The adjustment of global external balances: Does partial exchange-rate pass-through to trade prices matter?

This paper assesses whether partial exchange-rate pass-through to trade prices has important implications for the prospective adjustment of global external imbalances. To address this question, we develop and estimate an open-economy DSGE model in which pass-through is incomplete due to the presence of local currency pricing, distribution services, and a variable demand elasticity that leads to fluctuations in optimal markups. We find that the overall magnitude of trade adjustment is similar in a low and high pass-through environment with more adjustment in a low pass-through world occurring through movements in the terms of trade rather than real trade flows and through a larger response of the exchange rate.     

Does perception matter?: an empirical analysis of donor behaviour

This article provides the first empirically based marketing model of the perceptions of givers and the resulting impact on donations. Within nonprofit marketing there is a considerable amount of extant research to support the view that both extrinsic and intrinsic variables can be used to separate givers and non-givers to charities. However, they are less useful in explaining how individuals select between the charitable alternatives and in understanding how people determine and apportion support. Perceptual factors offer more utility in this regard. Structural equations models are presented based on a survey of over 2,300 active and lapsed donors that link a series of perceptual determinants to four relevant charity performance measures: the total amount given to charity, the number of gifts given, the giving lifetime between the individual and the charity, and the amount given yearly. Marketing management implications are identified.