WHICH FIRMS EXPAND TO THE MIDDLE EAST: THE EXPERIENCE OF U.S. MULTINATIONALS

We examine the characteristics of U.S. multinationals that control operations in the Middle East, a geographic region in which the foreign investment climate has been unfavorable. By comparing U.S. multinationals in the Middle East to a random sample of U.S. multinationals absent from the region, we find that the former have significantly greater R&D intensity and sales than the latter. Dividing multinationals with a presence in the Middle East between those in Israel and those in other countries, we find that the former are more R&D intensive, have a greater proportion of overseas sales, but are smaller in terms of total sales. We discuss the strategic implications of these findings and highlight avenues for future research. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

美国肉类食品包装发展前景

美国的肉、禽畜、海产品的需求预计在2009年将达到69亿美元.盈利主要来自于正在上升的船运销售和对食品包装需求存在有力刺激的一些因素.例如,加工者正在努力将肉和禽畜产品加工成更小、更方便的形状,同时发展深加工产品.这样的产品,比更大的未加工的原料产品要使用更多包装,这种趋势正逐渐形成潮流,以满足家庭和消费者对更方便食品的需求,以减少准备食物的时间.     

COHERENCE OF THE KNOWLEDGE BASE AND THE FIRM'S INNOVATIVE PERFORMANCE: EVIDENCE FROM THE U.S. PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY*

We examine the relationship between the coherence of the knowledge base and the innovative performance of U.S. pharmaceutical firms during the 1990's. We develop measures of the coherence and scope of the firms' knowledge base. Count data regression models show a strong link between these two properties and the firms' innovative performance. Firms experience decreasing returns to scale in research but larger firms enjoy a significant size advantage in innovation. Knowledge flows are necessary in knowledge production but not sufficient to secure its quality. Over time, the contribution of the scope and coherence of the knowledge base is increasing.     

美国将用RFID为药品防伪

美国食品及药品管理局（FDA）将与几家主要的制药厂进行合作,在药瓶上加装微型天线,利用无线射频识别技术（RFID）打击药品仿冒.首批在药瓶上加装这种微型天线的药品将包括全球假冒现象最严重的“伟哥”（Viagra）以及美国最为人们所滥用的强力止痛药奥施康定（Oxy-Contin）.     

THE FORMATION OF JAPANESE AND U.S. EQUITY JOINT VENTURES IN CHINA

This study examines the characteristics of Japanese and U.S. equity joint ventures (EJVs) in China over a 15-year period. These EJVs were announced between 1979 and the end of 1993. Substantial differences are found with respect to six key characteristics. They are: selection of the Chinese partner, selection of the second foreign partner (when more than one foreign partner is involved), foreign equity ownership, foreign capital contribution, EJV business scope, and the EJV location. Tentative explanations for these differences are offered from the perspectives of risk orientation, cultural similarities, and the impact of political events in China. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

美国咨询公司调查表明:大型医疗机构应用RFID处领先地位

Bearing Point是全球知名的管理和技术咨询公司.它和美国国家医疗信息技术联盟展开的最新调查显示：在RFID技术的应用规模上,大型医疗机构在所有行业中处于领先地位.其高级主管人员认为,医疗业在RFID上的投资到2007年初才会大幅增长,而RFID技术对医疗机构实现商业目标至关重要,尤其是在改善患者安全方面。     

RESOURCE AND MARKET BASED DETERMINANTS OF PERFORMANCE IN THE U.S. BANKING INDUSTRY

This paper explores the implications of studying industry competitive patterns at the level of resource accumulation and the relationship between resource endowments and firm performance outcomes in the U.S. banking industry. It uses the strategic group framework to evaluate two models of rivalry and performance and concludes by discussing the implications of the findings for competitive analysis, strategic group theory and the banking industry.     

UNDERSTANDING THE DIFFERENCES IN KOREAN AND U.S. EXECUTIVES’ STRATEGIC ORIENTATIONS

Competitive positioning in a global market requires an understanding of the decision processes and behavioral attributes of executives from different countries. These attributes reflect the executives’ cultural background, the national policies under which they have worked, and their home country’s level of economic development (institutional context). The current research compared strategic decision models of U.S. and Korean executives and the results suggest that criteria employed by the executives from the two countries differ. Differences in institutional context between Korea and the U.S.A. were reflected in the weightings of objective criteria used by the executives. Korean executives emphasized industry attractiveness, sales and market share (because of policies that encourage growth) and U.S. executives emphasized projected demand, discounted cash flow and ROI (because of policies and institutions that focus on profitability). The results suggest the importance of understanding the strategic orientations of international competitors, partners in international strategic alliances and managers of international subsidiaries or divisions. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

苹谷微三英战汽车

汽车真的会变成消费电子、遭遇柯达胶卷被数码相机行业清洗的厄运、退出历史舞台吗？苹果、谷歌、微软这三家公司的行动，正让这样的“恐慌”情绪在汽车业蔓延。     

A LONGITUDINAL STUDY OF THE COMPETITIVE POSITIONS AND ENTRY PATHS OF EUROPEAN FIRMS IN THE U.S. PHARMACEUTICAL MARKET

This paper combines the statistical insights of dynamic strategic group analysis with the qualitative richness of historical analysis to explore the modes of entry, expansion paths, and competitive postures of European firms in the U.S. pharmaceutical market. Patterns of entry and market development over a 20-year period are analyzed. The roles of strategic assets and competencies in determining both the entry strategy and the final competitive posture of these firms in the U.S. market are discussed.     

PROFITABILITY,TRANSACTIONAL ALIGNMENT,AND ORGANIZATIONAL MORTALITY IN THE U.S. TRUCKING INDUSTRY

The winds of creative destruction rarely blow more fiercely than in a newly deregulated environment. Managers simultaneously face a novel focus on operating efficiency and an onslaught of new competitors. What must managers do to enable their firms to survive in such an environment? What factors bear on firms’ survival? This paper presents an analysis of mortality of large motor carriers in the U.S. interstate for-hire trucking industry after deregulation. It examines this phenomenon through a multidisciplinary lens that encompasses organizational ecology, neoclassical economics, and transaction cost economics. The paper posits that carrier mortality is a function of both firm-level and industry-level attributes, which are drawn from both ecological and economic theories. While each of these theories separately informs motor carrier mortality, the inclusion of predictions derived from both disciplines in one model significantly increases explanatory power over either theory evaluated alone. The empirical analysis is among the first to show increased mortality when firms do not adhere to operating policies consistent with transaction cost minimization principles. In sum, managers are well advised to adopt a multidisciplinary approach to strategy to ensure their firms’ survival. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

DOES ELECTRICITY RESTRUCTURING WORK? EVIDENCE FROM THE U.S. NUCLEAR ENERGY INDUSTRY*

This paper examines whether electricity restructuring improves the efficiency of U.S. nuclear power generation. Using a panel dataset consisting of the full sample of 73 investor‐owned nuclear plants in the United States from 1992 to 1998, I estimate the plant‐level cross‐sectional and longitudinal efficiency changes associated with restructuring. Special attention is given to the potential policy endogeneity bias and different modeling strategies are presented to cope with the issue. Overall, I find a striking positive relationship between restructuring and cost reduction, and increased plant utilization.     

MEASURING THE BUSINESS STEALING,CANNIBALIZATION AND MARKET EXPANSION EFFECTS OF ENTRY IN THE U.S. MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITION MARKET*

Using a large and comprehensive theater level database covering over $18 billion in theater revenues over a five year period, I document the extent and nature of business stealing, revenue cannibalization and market expansion that occurred during the height of the 1990's boom in movie theater construction.     

A Review of: THE EVALUATION OF RISKY INTERRELATED INVESTMENTS by Frederick S. Hillier

The flood of publications and seminars on activity costing in the last few years suggests that companies suddenly encountered a need for better management accounting information in the 1980s. In fact, management accounting's relevance to most business decision-making deteriorated steadily since the 1950s. However, most companies did not perceive these inadequacies in management accounting until the early 1980s. Current interest in activity management and activity costing reflects the convergence around 1980 of two forces: a long-undetected set of problems in management accounting that seems to originate in the 1950s; and the growth of new competitive pressures in the 1970s that made companies acutely aware of these problems. Although these two forces arose independently, their interaction in the 1970s led to the rise of activity-based management thinking. This paper describes the past, present, and future of activity-based management: past uses of financial accounting information that confounded companies' efforts to plan marketing strategies and to control operations after the 1950s; present ideas for solving these problems with activity-based management concepts such as activity costing; and the likely future direction of activity-based management thought.