A path to value creation for foreign entrepreneurs

Research summary : Firms founded by foreign entrepreneurs constitute an influential and growing part of the world economy. Yet, the existing research has given little consideration to the strategies of foreign entrepreneurs beyond their decisions to start a firm. In this article, we address this gap by examining how foreign entrepreneurs may bring value to their firms as firm managers. We argue that foreign owner‐managers may benefit their firms by having access to home‐country resources. We demonstrate that, compared to hired local managers, foreign owner‐managers reduce firms' operating costs by disproportionately hiring home‐country labor when this labor is more cost‐efficient. This effect is larger for labor‐intensive industries and for entrepreneurs from less wealthy countries. Managerial summary : Foreign entrepreneurs represent an important part of the world economy. Yet, we know little of how foreign entrepreneurs manage their firms. In this article, we examine whether foreign entrepreneurs and domestic managers hire different employees. We find that when foreign entrepreneurs manage their firms personally, they hire a larger number of foreign workers, and such workers are cheaper and more productive than the local labor. Conversely, domestic managers tend to hire local employees, despite their higher relative wages. Foreign owner‐managers are particularly valuable in labor‐intensive industries and when their home‐country labor is inexpensive. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Compensating Wage Differentials in the Union and Nonunion Sectors

This paper tests for the existence of structurally different compensating payments in the union and nonunion sectors of the economy. Significant differences may stem from the different mechanisms by which such payments are determined: markets are the primary mechanism in the nonunion sector, while Political processes play a major role in the union sector. The empirical results provide tentative support for the structural differences hypothesis; They also reveal an absence of positive and significant compensating payments in nonunion labor markets.     

Coopetition strategy as interrelated praxis and practices on multiple levels

Existing research often considers coopetition as something occurring between organizations on a meso level, that is, a relational or company level. This study explores coopetition strategy in the form of activities from a multilevel perspective. The focus is on coopetition praxis and practices and how these are interrelated on the micro, meso and macro levels. In order to improve our understanding of coopetition activities, we use the strategy-as-practice approach and integrate it with coopetition research. The empirical part of this study is based on a single qualitative case study of a coopetitive relationship between a large multinational company and its supplier. The findings show how praxis on the micro level influences, and is influenced by, practices on the meso and macro levels. Coopetition strategy is shaped over time through the relationship between praxis and practices on different levels. Our study contributes to coopetition research by focusing on coopetition strategy as something that is implemented on multiple levels, including the individual (micro) and network (macro) levels alongside the meso level.     

LDC Labor Markets: Applications of Internal Labor Market Theory

This article does not attempt, nor has it delivered, a complete theory for the labor market in Egypt, let alone for LDC labor markets in general. The macro-model developed here serves mainly to demonstrate the diaculties involved in formulating macro-theories for LDC labor markets that, while necessarily simple, can still claim realism when confronted with certain fundamental “stylized h t s. Our considerations have, moreover, been limited to LDCs with mixed economies, using Egypt as the example. Hence, large-scale modern industry was assumed to belong to the public sector which then emerges as the country dominant, nonagricultural employer. Agriculture is the second large and relatively homogeneous sector, in Egypt dominated by small holdings. In-between we find the private, nonagricultural sector, overwhelmingly dominated by small-scale enterprises with large numbers of the self-employed, and with trade as the most important single activity. Labor is (in Egypt) generally unorganized or enrolled in government-controlled unions, active mainly in the public sector and without much real say in matters of wages and salaries. It is in this specific institutional setting that I have tried to discuss the application of internal labor market theory. This theory has, to the best of my understanding, nothing to offer by way of explaining public sector behavior (which is of crucial importance for wage and employment formation in a mixed economy). However, adapted to the circumstances, internal labor market theory goes a long way toward explaining wages and employment in agriculture and the “informal” small-scale sector. Our considerations, tentative though they are, do not point to any single, dominant labor market mechanism that could form the basis for a simple macro-theory. Wage flexibility differs greatly between sectors, overstaEng may be a more important phenomenon than unemployment in some activities, and unemployment may be of both the voluntary and involuntary variety, with withdrawals from the labor market related to well-defined reserve wages, and open unemployment related to internal labor market behavior. These considerations are based more on loose impressions than on solid facts. Further theorizing may be needed, but the development of labor market theory for LDCs has undoubtedly reached a point where progress depends critically upon painstaking empirical studies of basic labor market institutions such as employment and wage forms and responses, bargaining procedures, and conditions of both labor and output markets for small private enterprises in particular countries. Considerable work has been done in India but even here much remains for investigation. Studies of specific countries may, even for LDCs in rapid, turbulent transformation, disclose ongoing changes in institutions that for a full understanding of the labor market may be more important than the institutions themselves. Existing wage theory has little to offer for the analysis of such institutional change, but something may be learned from the American institutional school in labor economics whose leading exponent we are paying homage to with these papers.     

劳动力外移、国际贸易与产业结构调整——基于1984—2004年中国数据的协整分析与格兰杰因果检验

伴随着经济全球化进程的不断加快,劳动力外移的浪潮不断高涨,对世界经济和国际贸易的发展带来了巨大的促进作用。近年来中国劳动力外移的数量同样迅猛增加,对中国经济的作用日趋彰显。本文在总结前人观点的基础上,利用1984—2004年的数据对中国的劳动力外移和对外贸易进行了协整分析和格兰杰因果检验,得出结论:我国劳动力外移和对外贸易之间的原因视不同的产业分别呈替代和互补关系,从而对我国产业结构的调整提出了不同的要求与发展思路。     

国有冶金矿山企业推进定员定额合理化的战略思考

劳动定员定额是企业管理中最基础的一项工作,制定科学合理的劳动定员定额标准是企业走向规范化、科学化的基本要求,也是提高企业劳动生产率、降低企业人工成本、增加经济效益的有效措施。本文从宏观角度对国有冶金矿山企业劳动定员定额管理的共同现状及普遍存在的问题进行战略思考,提出国有冶金矿山企业定员定额合理化的思路与对策,以促进国有冶金矿山企业定员定额管理的科学化与合理化。     

我国县域经济可持续发展问题与对策探析

县域经济已经成为我国国民经济的重要组成部分。目前我国县域经济存在发展不平衡、产业层次和劳动力素质低下、自然资源浪费、生态环境恶化、产业要素缺乏、国家投入不合理等问题。我们应该制定县域经济的发展规划,加强对县域经济的分类指导;积极推进农业产业化,切实提高农民收入;提高劳动力素质;节约使用自然资源,保护生态环境;积极推进城镇化,促进城乡协调发展。     

Bargaining over employment as a firm strategic choice

This paper develops a simple model as to why unionized Cournot firms acting non-cooperatively in the product market may find it optimal to commit to bargaining outcomes with their specific union, which are off the labor demand curve, hence restricting their behavior to non-profit maximizing practices in their product markets. The prediction that power over labor conceded strategically to the union by the firm is negatively linked to union wage power is not rejected on a panel of Belgian firms as well as the prediction that the union bargaining power can be affected by product market structure and other variables affecting union wages.     

2001～2002年宏观经济政策分析与展望

2001年宏观经济政策的重点已经转向制上经济无序，建立市场经济规则、转变政策职能和管理方式方面，新的经济增长基础逐步形成。2002年世界经济影响，我国经济将续呈现缓慢回落状态，宏观经济政策对短期目标关注度将上升，在加入了WTO的环境下，深化改革，建立规则，规范秩序方面的政策措施将进一步涉及体制的更深层面。     

The Suburbanization of Industry and Its Effects Upon Labor Force Participation Rates of Suburban Women

Post-World War II intrametropolitan dispersion of industry has been well documented in the literature on contemporary suburbanization. There has, however, been no empirical research conducted to determine the effect of the restructured metropolitan economy upon labor force participation rates of suburban residents, especially of suburban married women. The purpose of this study is to fill this research gap. The hypothesis tested is that increased employment opportunities in the suburbs will increase labor force participation of suburban married women, ceteris paribus . The research results show the hypothesized relationship to be correct. The variable developed in this study and used as a proxy for the degree of intrametropolitan industrial dispersion is statistically significant, albeit a bit weak, in explaining intersuburban variation in labor force participation rates of married women, husband present. Other variables (such as median school years completed) included in more traditional non-spatially oriented labor force behavior models are statistically insignificant in explaining areal variation in participation rates. The findings point up the necessity of recognizing the spatial complexities of the urban economy.     

我国应对气候变化面临的形势分析及战略选择建议

基于对我国应对气候变化面临形势和世界主要国家应对气候变化策略的分析,阐述了我国应当把低碳发展作为应对气候变化策略的原因,提出了我国促进低碳发展战略的指导思想、战略目标,以及建设节约型社会、构建低碳型国民经济体系、构建低碳型消费模式和构建符合低碳发展要求的政府宏观调控体系等战略重点,进一步分析提出了完善节能减排约束性指标体系、尽快攻克煤炭清洁发电关键技术、以发展循环经济为抓手促进绿色经济发展等战略措施选择。     

浅析政府对房地产市场宏观调控的紧迫性

由于市场经济本身存在着内在缺陷，再加上国民经济要追求供需总量平衡的目标，以及不断调整和优化产业结构，这些要求政府必须对房地产开发活动加强管理，完善房地产市场调控办法，建立有效的协调机制。中国房地产业的发展历程已经从正反两个方面证明，在房地产开发活动中必须将发展市场经济与加强政府宏观调控结合起来，才能获得最佳的效果，促进房地产业健康有序地发展。     

Operational model for planning the harvest and distribution of perishable agricultural products

This paper presents an operational model that generates short term planning decisions for the fresh produce industry. In particular, the application developed helps the grower to maximize his revenues by making production and distribution decisions during the harvest season. The main motivation for this model comes from the fact that the profitability of producers is highly dependent on the handling of short term planning in the harvest season. Some of the factors affecting profitability include the management of labor costs, the preservation of the value of perishable crops, and the use transportation modes that provide the best trade-off between time (quality of products) and cost. These issues are interrelated, and their judicious management is fundamental for attaining good financial results. The results of the proposed planning model indicate that significant savings can be obtained by managing the trade-off of the freshness at the delivery of the product with the added labor and transportation cost at the grower's side. Moreover the results also show that dynamic, information based, management practices might be preferred over traditional practices based in fixed labor allocation and distribution practices.     

Assessing Consequences of Component Sharing across Brands in the Vertical Product Line in the Automotive Market

Component sharing may look great in the boardroom but not in the showroom. Indeed, savings on research and development and production costs could be offset by a plunge in customer brand attractiveness. The central objective of this paper is to investigate consumer and market responses toward component sharing between brands. More specifically, by combining experimental with econometric studies, this paper investigates the impact of component sharing on customer evaluation of luxury, volume, and economy brands offered in a car manufacturer's vertical product line. An experimental study in which component sharing between automotive brands was made explicit aimed to understand the impact of brand combinations and type of sourcing on the evaluations of the two brands sharing components. This experimental study shows that the evaluation of luxury brands sharing with a volume brand suffers more than when a volume brand shares components with an economy brand. This experimental study was executed for two different brand combinations including one luxury, one volume, and one economy brand: (1) Audi, Volkswagen, and Skoda; and (2) Lexus, Toyota, and Suzuki. The evaluation of an economy brand benefits more from sharing with a volume brand than a volume brand suffers from sharing with an economy brand. The magnitude of these effects depends on several factors, such as component type, the source of the component sharing, and the salience of component sharing to the consumers. One important limitation of the experiment is that component sharing is made rather salient, and no behavioral effects of component sharing are studied. Therefore, a second was executed in which market share data on brands of the Volkwagen company (i.e., Audi, Volkswagen, Seat, and Skoda) were collected, while also data on the component‐sharing practices between these brands were gathered. A market share model was estimated in which market shares of the four studied brands were explained by component‐sharing practices and some control variables (i.e., price, model changes) in an exploratory fashion. The explorative examination of market share effects confirms that luxury brands may suffer, while economy brands may benefit from component sharing. In sum, this research suggests that component sharing between brands has negative effects for the higher‐end, and positive effects for the lower‐end brand. However, it also shows that sourcing matters. This study is considered as the first study investigating the phenomenon of component sharing, and it points to multiple future research issues, such as studying this phenomenon in other markets.     

Macroeconomic Impacts of Canadian Immigration: Results from a Macro Model

We use a macro‐econometric forecasting model to simulate the impact on the Canadian economy of a hypothetical increase in immigration. Our simulations generally yield positive impacts on such factors as real gross domestic product (GDP) and GDP per capita, aggregate demand, investment, productivity, and government expenditures, taxes and especially net government balances, with essentially no impact on unemployment. This is generally buttressed by conclusions reached in the existing literature. Our analysis suggests that concern should be with respect to immigrants themselves, as they are having an increasingly difficult time assimilating into the Canadian labour market, and new immigrants are increasingly falling into poverty.     

现代企业雇佣关系模式的变革、冲突及其管理策略研究

外部劳动力市场主导的雇佣关系模式中的企业雇佣管理法则迥异于内部劳动力市场主导模式，新的雇佣关系模式破坏了雇主和雇员之间的心理契约，互惠关系被打破，企业在员工管理中面临四大在原有雇佣管理理念中难以自圆其说的两难问题。新的互惠关系的达成和维护成为雇佣关系达成新的平衡的关键。该研究认为，可雇佣性成为新的互惠关系形成的关键，围绕可雇佣性提升建立新的员工管理理念和系统成为企业在外部劳动力市场主导的雇佣关系模式中的雇佣管理策略。     

An Examination of New Product Development Best Practice

Efforts continue to identify new product development (NPD) best practices. Examples of recognized studies include those by the Product Development and Management Association's Comparative Performance Assessment Study and the American Productivity Quality Center NPD best practices study. While these studies designate practices that distinguish top‐performing companies, it is unclear whether NPD practitioners as a group (not just researchers) are knowledgeable about what represents a NPD best practice. The importance of this is that it offers insight into how NPD practitioners are translating potential NPD knowledge into actual NPD practice. In other words, are practitioners aware of and able to implement NPD best practices designated by noteworthy studies? The answer to this question ascertains a current state of the field toward understanding NPD best practice and the maturity level of various practices. Answering this question further contributes to our understanding of the diffusion of NPD best practices knowledge by NPD professionals, possibly identifying gaps between prescribed and actual practice. Beginning the empirical examination by conducting a Delphi methodology with 20 leading innovation researchers, the study examined the likely dimensions of NPD and corresponding definitions to validate the NPD practices framework originally proposed by Kahn, Barczak, and Moss. A survey was then conducted with practitioners from the United States, United Kingdom, and Ireland to gauge opinions about perceptions of the importance of different NPD dimensions, specific characteristics reflected by each of these dimensions, and the level of NPD practice maturity that these characteristics would represent. The study is therefore unique in that it relies on the opinions of NPD practitioners to see what they perceive as best practice versus prior studies where the researcher has identified and prescribed best practices. Results of the present study find that seven NPD dimensions are recommended, whereas the 2006 Kahn, Barczak, and Moss framework had suggested six dimensions. Among practitioners across the three country contexts, there is consensus on which dimensions are more important, providing evidence that NPD dimensions may be generalizable across Western contexts. Strategy was rated higher than any of the other dimensions followed by research, commercialization, and process. Project climate and metrics were perceived as the lowest in importance. The high weighting on strategy and low weighting on metrics and project climate reinforce previous best practice findings. Regarding the characteristics of each best practice dimension, practitioners appear able to distinguish what constitutes poor versus best practice, but consensus on distinguishing middle range practices are not as clear. The suggested implications of these findings are that managers should emphasize strategy when undertaking NPD efforts and consider the fit of their projects with this strategy. The results further imply that there are clearly some poor practices that managers should avoid and best practices to which managers should ascribe. For academics, the results strongly suggest a need to do a better job of diffusing NPD knowledge and research on best practices. Particular attention by academics to the issues of metrics, project climate, and company culture appears warranted.     

RELATED AND UNRELATED DIVERSIFICATION AND THEIR EFFECT ON HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT CONTROLS

This paper examines the link between related and unrelated diversification and human resource management (HRM) controls. The paper presents a model proposing that the type of corporate (macro) controls used by related or unrelated firms implies a relative emphasis on either flexibility or fit among HRM practices in that related firms emphasize flexibility and unrelated firms emphasize fit. This emphasis on flexibility or fit, in turn, has implications for the use of HRM (micro) controls such as clan, behavior, and outcome controls such that related firms exhibit the use of all three types of HRM controls, while unrelated firms exhibit a relative emphasis on the use of outcome controls. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

当前中国经济的突出特点和发展趋势

20多年来，中国经济发生了极为深刻的变化，当前，中国经济在管理体制，宏观环境，开放程度，分配格局，区域战略以及国际竞争关系等方面都表现出非常显著的特点。今天的中国，正站在一个关键的历史转折点上，必须以创造性的思维和更具创新性的行为，才能在新世纪再度获得更大的成就，早日进入世界中等收入国家的行列。