Multinationals in the Middle East: Challenges and opportunities

This introduction to the special issue on Multinationals in the Middle East first reviews the historical growth and development of multinational enterprises (MNEs) in the territory extending from Morocco to Turkey alongside the southern and eastern shores of the Mediterranean as far east as Iran, and south to Sudan and Yemen. Then, several opportunities and challenges affecting MNEs in the region are discussed, including economic and social diversity, non-market strategies and entry-mode choices, and animosity toward MNEs. The seven papers featured in the special issue that address these topics are then discussed.     

Lebanon: From cataclysm to opportunity—Crisis management lessons for MNCs in the tourism sector of the Middle East

Lebanon is a complex country of extraordinary promise; often thrust into crisis, including recent military assaults, terrorist attacks and bombings. The authors share findings from a longitudinal field-study of the evolving political and business climate of Lebanon, emphasizing a particular MNC that is thriving amidst social, ideological and political conflicts. A synthesis of primary and secondary data revealed the InterContinental Phoenicia hotel as a model institution in the face of extreme crisis. Key managerial insights that can be helpful to investors, MNCs and managers in the Middle East and other places subjected to similarly extreme conditions are shared.     

Survival of Japanese subsidiaries in the Middle East and North Africa

This paper considers factors affecting survival of foreign subsidiaries in the context of Japanese foreign equity ventures in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Three new institutional variables, economic distance, economic freedom distance and subsidiary density, are examined as determinants of survival while controlling for other determinants previously established in the literature. The findings support our hypotheses. We found that economic distance and economic freedom distance exhibit significant positive and negative relationships respectively with the survival of Japanese FDI in the MENA region, and moderate positive relationship between subsidiary density and subsidiary survival.     

对中东部分国家进口石脑油内外检验结果分析

通过对进口石脑油国内外双方检验结果分析：有100%批次的环烷烃、88.89%批次的烷烃、77.78%批次的初馏点、88.89%批次的硫含量为负偏差,有88.89%批次的烯烃、100%批次的相对密度为正偏差;个别批次的初馏点、相对密度、硫含量内外检验结果差值及对应项目的内外检验结果平均差值相对较大;芳烃、10%馏出温度、50%馏出温度、90%馏出温度及终馏点内外测定结果各有大小;实际胶质和辛烷值内外检验结果较相近;个别批次中的饱和蒸汽压我方结果有大于外方结果的现象;铅含量检验结果我方比外方结果相对精确。     

Gender stereotypes in television advertising in the Middle East: Time for marketers and advertisers to step up

Gender stereotypes, which are particularly harmful to women, have historically been prevalent in advertising, prompting some governments and brands to regulate conventional gender portrayals. This study examines current gender portrayals in television advertising in the Middle East, and specifically in the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), because of the increasing importance accorded to women’s empowerment in some of these countries. Building on similar studies elsewhere, we analyze the content of 111 distinct television advertisements aired over a week by a major TV channel in the region. Our analysis reveals that while depictions of certain aspects, such as role (familial/nonfamilial) and location (home/occupational setting), gently nudged traditional stereotypes by portraying women in nonfamilial roles and in occupational settings, depictions of background (female/male/children) and product type further reinforced traditional stereotypes. Based on these findings, we offer specific recommendations to marketers and advertisers in the region.     

Women Leaders in a Globalized World

This article will defend a very simple thesis. In a diverse globalized “flat” world with expanding economic opportunities and risks, we will need to revisit and revise our mindsets about free enterprise, corporate governance, and leadership. That we can change our mindsets and world view is illustrated by studies of primate behavior, and the kind of leadership necessary in a global economy is, interestingly, exemplified by women. This paper has benefited greatly from the earlier work of Nancy Adler at McGill University and from my colleagues, Lisa Gundry, Margaret Posig, Lili Powell, Laurel Ofstein and Jane Carlson. Patricia H. Werhane is the Wicklander Chair of Business Ethics in the Department of Philosophy and Director of the Institute for Business and Professional Ethics at DePaul University with a joint appointment as the Peter and Adeline Ruffin Professor of Business Ethics and Senior Fellow at of the Olsson Center for Applied Ethics in the Darden School at the University of Virginia. Professor Werhane has published numerous articles and is the author or editor of twenty books including Persons, Rights and Corporations, Adam Smith and His Legacy for Modern Capitalism, Moral Imagination and Managerial Decision-Making with Oxford University Press and Employment and Employee Rights (with Tara J. Radin and Norman Bowie) with Blackwell’s. She is the founder and former Editor-in-Chief of Business Ethics Quarterly, the journal of the Society for Business Ethics. Professor Werhane is a member of the academic advisory team for the newly created Business Roundtable Institute for Corporate Ethics housed at the University of Virginia.     

The Role of the Advertising Agency in the Cultural Message Content of Advertisements: A Comparison of the Middle East and the United States

ABSTRACT

This study compared responses of advertising agencies located in the Middle East and the United States to an email survey examining their approach in designing advertisements. The survey examined whether the advertising agency incorporated area-specific cultural values and advertising appeals in the execution of their advertisements. Results indicate that indeed advertising agencies do use, or at least report to use, different cultural values and advertising appeals. Advertising agencies in the Middle East tend to focus more on filial obedience, customs and traditions, loyalty to one's group, honor, and patience. In addition, agencies in the Middle East reported that they tended to portray women in a more modest fashion than their counterparts in the United States.     

Women Workers, Industrialization, Global Supply Chains and Corporate Codes of Conduct

The restructured globalized economy has provided women with employment opportunities. Globalisation has also meant a shift towards self-regulation of multinationals as part of the restructuring of the world economy that increases among others things, flexible employment practices, worsening of labour conditions and lower wages for many women workers around the world. In this context, as part of the global trend emphasising Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the 1980s, one important development has been the growth of voluntary Corporate Codes of Conduct to improve labour conditions. This article reviews from a feminist interdisciplinary perspective the broad academic literature on women workers, covering the more classical debate on women workers in the industrialization process and entering into women workers in the global supply chains and women workers and corporate codes of conduct. The main argument is that this research on women workers is crucial to frame the issues of business ethics and in particular CSR and Codes of Conduct in the context of women in the global political economy. When this crucial knowledge is ignored, then the ethical policies of the companies also ignore the real situation of the women workers at the bottom of their supply chains. This article is based on my PhD on Nicaraguan women workers in factories (maquilas) and banana plantations and corporate codes of conduct (Prieto, 2006, unpublished).     

中小进出口企业中东市场国际营销策略研究

本文讨论了在国际金融危机的背景下,为了应对欧美市场的萎缩,我国中小进出口企业应根据中东市场的特点进行相应的国际营销策略调整,大力拓展中东市场,并提出了具体的中东市场国际营销策略思路。     

Women and Globalization: Ethical Dimensions of Knowledge Transfer in Global Organizations

The topic of women and globalization raises fundamental questions on the impact of globalization on women, ethnic minorities and other socio-demographically under-represented actors in global organizations. This article seeks to integrate theories of procedural justice, psychological contracts, motivation and psychological ownership in knowledge transfer in global organizations, and the implications for women, and other under-represented actors. Our analysis concurs with current research on the need for a relativist perspective in business ethics research and one that encompasses the critical processes of exchange from a cognitive perspective. Our contribution is to show that globalization is a complex process, that has different impacts on actors, an impact that can vary widely depending on, whether the actors are in a dominant situation, or as in the case of women and ethnic minorities, in a relatively socio-demographic and geo-politically under represented situation.     

论政府在企业跨国经营中的作用

由于经济全球化以及外资涌入的冲击 ,我国企业国际化进程大大加快 ,国际市场竞争的残酷性决定了政府在企业跨国经营中作用的重要性。在分析我国企业跨国经营现状及存在问题的基础上 ,结合政府职能作用中存在的问题 ,探讨并论证了政府在宏观管理、职能转变、政策法规等方面应予以企业在跨国经营中进一步的扶持与帮助。     

解读列宁"帝国主义论" 中的全球化思想

列宁的帝国主义理论是列宁全球化思想的集中表达,列宁的帝国主义理论首先是关于资本全球化的新阶段、新形式的理论,实际上他对于帝国主义五大特征内部结构的分析,就是对资本全球化历史进程中全球化特征逐渐显现及其在各个层面的展开和深化。而帝国主义是资本主义全球化发展的极限,是资本主义全球化的最高和最后的阶段,是社会主义全球化的前夜。这些思想既指导了十月革命的胜利,同样也成为列宁的全球化视野和论断的历史局限性的根源。     

Synthesis of Complex Criteria Decision Making: A Case Towards a Consensus Agreement for a Middle East Conflict Resolution

The title of this paper reflects both the process and the outcome of the current undertaking. Frustrated with the current state of the Middle East but encouraged by earlier attempts at modeling complex problems, the authors participated in a panel discussion assembled to address the conflict and propose a possible road-map to peace. However, the participants of this project did not come to a single course of action that will result in peace in the Middle East but did reach a consensus agreement about a resolution that needs to be managed. This paper explores the process, the outcome and the factors that influence the decision as well as potential pitfalls. The Analytic Network Process (ANP), a well known multicriteria decision making approach, applied frequently in recent years to examine conflicts around the world, is used in this analysis. It provides a framework for synthesizing judgments on the diverse aspects of the problem represented in the structure of the decision. It pieces together these judgments in a holistic and logical way.     

全球环境下分销渠道变革原因、条件与方向

分销渠道理论的发展,为当前我国企业分销渠道模式发展提供了理论指导与依据。目前我国企业分销渠道存在很多的现实问题,为此要明确构建基于全球化分销渠道的条件。我国企业分销渠道模式构建的方向应以顾客为中心,采取多通道分销渠道、中间商渠道模式。     

R＆D全球化、反向外溢与技术获取型FDI

在科技全球化浪潮冲击下．跨国公司产业竞争优势演化催生的R＆D资源全球转移为发展中国家实现技术获取型对外直接投资（TSFDI）．获取反向技术外溢创造了机遇。本文分析了跨国公司R＆D资源转移出现的背景．指出TSFDI是对接跨国公司R＆D资源的有效途径．并进而研究了TSFDI与反向技术外溢的关系，归纳了发展中国家TSFDI的现状。     

Mental Models, Moral Imagination and System Thinking in the Age of Globalization

After experiments with various economic systems, we appear to have conceded, to misquote Winston Churchill that “free enterprise is the worst economic system, except all the others that have been tried.” Affirming that conclusion, I shall argue that in today’s expanding global economy, we need to revisit our mind-sets about corporate governance and leadership to fit what will be new kinds of free enterprise. The aim is to develop a values-based model for corporate governance in this age of globalization that will be appropriate in a variety of challenging cultural and economic settings. I shall present an analysis of mental models from a social constructivist perspective. I shall then develop the notion of moral imagination as one way to revisit traditional mind-sets about values-based corporate governance and outline what I mean by systems thinking. I shall conclude with examples for modeling corporate governance in multi-cultural settings and draw tentative conclusions about globalization. Patricia H. Werhane is the Wicklander Chair of Business Ethics and Director of the Institute for Business and Professional Ethics at DePaul University with a joint appointment as the Peter and Adeline Ruffin Professor of Business Ethics in the Darden School at the University of Virginia. Professor Werhane has published numerous articles and is the author or editor of twenty books including Persons, Rights and Corporations, Adam Smith and His Legacy for Modern Capitalism, Moral Imagination and Managerial Decision-Making with Oxford University Press and Employment and Employee Rights (with Tara J. Radin and Norman Bowie) with Blackwell’s. She is the founder and former Editor-in-Chief of Business Ethics Quarterly, the journal of the Society for Business Ethics.     

商业连锁企业跨国经营的动因及其管理模式

随着世界经济全球化进程加快，连锁企业的全球化经营趋势也日趋明显。尽管连锁企业跨国经营的动因不一，但其管理模式都是在选择全球化战略或多国化战略的基础上，既坚持标准化原则，又要根据不同市场的不同特征作一定程度的适应性调整。     

茧丝绸行业应对经济全球化的战略分析

中国经济已面临经济全球化的挑战。作为典型的传统产业一茧丝绸行业,在其战略调整中,必须从其自身的产业优势出发,认真分折技术落后、国际竞争力弱和世界丝绸市场产销格局变化等特点,利用WTO的有关规则和原则,进行战略分析。通过采取制定行业保护性措施,加强出口管理和组建新型的贸、工、农大集团公司等战略,立足于整个萤丝绸产业的价值链来提升产业的国际竞争力。     

金融全球化时代国家货币的命运:过去、现在与未来

主权意义上的国家货币是近代历史的产物。在19世纪,经济民族主义、国内统一市场、军事财政改革、新工业技术共同建构出现代国家货币。而金融全球化冲击着国家货币与货币主权,呈现出一个市场,一种货币的时代特点。这一特点的根源仍然在于国家货币的历史结构。但是,国家货币仍将在未来相当长的一段时期内是国际货币格局的主导形态。     

Cultural Differences and Similarities in Television Commercials in the Arab World and the United States

Understanding the nature and influences of cultural differences is central to international marketing. This article investigates cultural differences in television advertising between the United States and a select group of countries in the Arab world on the cultural dimensions of contextualization, individualism/collectivism, time orientation, and human perception of nature. The results indicate that while there are many differences between the United States and the Arab world, there are also similarities. The results indicate that there are also differences between the Arab countries, and the Arab countries should not be viewed as the same in certain situations.