The shape of post-bubble Japanese business: Preparing for growth in the new millennium

The Japanese economy, the second largest in the world and the lead economy in fast growing Asia, was in a major and structural recession in the first half of the 1990s. Changes necessary for Japan to renew its economic growth must reflect not only the effects of the post-bubble recession of the early 1990s, but also the end of the cold war and the new social values, demographics, and politics in Japan. This article is an analytical review of postwar economic growth in Japan that led to the early 1990s recession, and an assessment of the shape of post-bubble Japanese business as it prepares for growth in the new millennium, and the implications of these changes on Japanese and non-Japanese firms.     

Exploring the role of knowledge management practices on exports: A dynamic capabilities view

Drawing on dynamic capabilities view, this work provides empirical evidence on the role of knowledge management practices on export intensity in SMEs in a mature and global, non-high-tech industry. A quantitative study with structural equation modeling was carried out on a sample of 157 Spanish and Italian manufacturing companies in the ceramic tile industry. Our results suggest the existence of a mediating effect of dynamic capabilities on exports, hence the implementation of knowledge management practices is a necessary but not sufficient condition to improve exporting, requiring the existence of dynamic capabilities to reconfigure these capabilities. Findings highlight the relevance of knowledge practices to foster exports, providing new insights for managers dealing with dynamic capabilities in SMEs.     

MNE performance during a crisis: An evolutionary perspective on the role of dynamic managerial capabilities and industry context

As the likelihood of worldwide crises increases due to globalization and the resulting economic contagion, understanding why some multinational enterprises (MNEs) prevail in such environments becomes ever more critical. Drawing from the concept of dynamic managerial capabilities, we posit that MNE in-crisis performance is associated with the pre-crisis development of asset management capabilities, or the capacity of managers to orchestrate assets so as to extract more value from the firm’s resource pool. Specifically, we argue that because dynamic managerial capabilities evolve as a response to a firm’s task environment, MNEs that operate in dynamic industries develop stronger asset management capabilities. However, we also posit that whether these capabilities contribute to in-crisis performance is contingent upon the munificence of the industry environment in which the capability evolves. Asset management capabilities that evolve in munificent environments would encompass a wider spectrum of routine-altering activities, and thus increase the ability of the MNE to react to more revolutionary events, such as global economic crises. Conversely, asset management capabilities that evolve in resource-scarce environments will result in more strategic lock-in due to firms' constrained ability to experiment with novel resource configurations, resulting in poorer in-crisis performance. We test our hypotheses using a sample of 854 MNEs in the context of the global financial crisis of 2008, and find support for our hypotheses. We discuss implications for the dynamic capabilities view and MNE resilience.     

Performance implications of customer-linking capabilities: Examining the complementary role of customer orientation and CRM technology

This study examines how technology and complementary resources are bundled to form capabilities that foster durable customer relationships. Drawing from the literature in marketing, strategic management, and information systems, the first outcome is a theoretically grounded conceptualization of CRM technology capability comprised of three complementary resources: technology, business, and human resources. The second key finding is that CRM technology capability and customer orientation have a positive association with the development of durable customer relationships. These resources also have a positive interactive effect on customer-linking capability, highlighting the importance of aligning strategic business and technology resources. Finally, the authors find that customer-linking capability has a positive relationship with customer relationship performance and that the rapidity of changes in the external environment moderates this relationship. This study addresses these research questions in a cross-sectional study of 215 organizations using a partial least squares modeling approach.     

Machine learning for enterprises: Applications,algorithm selection,and challenges

Machine learning holds great promise for lowering product and service costs, speeding up business processes, and serving customers better. It is recognized as one of the most important application areas in this era of unprecedented technological development, and its adoption is gaining momentum across almost all industries. In view of this, we offer a brief discussion of categories of machine learning and then present three types of machine-learning usage at enterprises. We then discuss the trade-off between the accuracy and interpretability of machine-learning algorithms, a crucial consideration in selecting the right algorithm for the task at hand. We next outline three cases of machine-learning development in financial services. Finally, we discuss challenges all managers must confront in deploying machine-learning applications.     

Exploring the role of internationalization knowledge in fostering strategic renewal: A dynamic capabilities perspective

Internationalization knowledge (IK) is important to successfully enter and develop competitive strategies abroad. Yet, how IK is advanced and improved across the multinational enterprise (MNE), and how this contributes to the MNE’s strategic renewal is less understood. This analysis is based on an in-depth case study of Microsoft International to explore how IK is advanced, improved, and integrated across the enterprise. Our findings suggest that IK plays a critical role in fostering strategic renewal of an MNE. More specifically, sensing, seizing, and transforming capabilities jointly provide the necessary basis that enable IK to facilitate strategic renewal. We contribute to the literature by (1) explicating three categories of IK and their hierarchical relationship; (2) reveal how three distinct capabilities required by MNEs capture and integrate the three categories of IK across the enterprise; and, (3) offering that strategic renewal is triggered by routines based on the development and integration of IK.     

The quality of British marketing: A comparison with US and Japanese multinationals in the UK market

This paper presents the findings of an empirical study comparing the marketing strategies and organisations of a matched sample of British companies and their US and Japanese competitors in the UK. Hypotheses about Japanese marketing are tested and provide a framework for the comparative analysis of the marketing effectiveness of the three sets of competitors. The findings highlight significant weaknesses in the marketing effort of British companies, these being exacerbated by excessive focus on short‐run financial gains. The US competitors, equally concerned with short‐term profits, were less committed to the UK market than their Japanese rivals, their market position being in danger of deteriorating further as the Japanese close the technological gap between them. The Japanese were unmistakably aggressive, single‐minded in their pursuit of market share and undeniably more market‐oriented than their US and British counterparts. This research was funded by the ESRC.     

On the role of alliance management capability,organizational compatibility,and interaction quality in interorganizational technology transfer

Interorganizational technology transfer (ITT) is a key component of firms' innovation processes. ITT involves purposeful, goal-oriented interactions between two or more organizations to exchange technological knowledge and/or artifacts and rights. Using the relational view, this study develops and empirically tests a research framework that incorporates key factors of technology transfer success to answer three questions: (1) How do various managerial routines and procedures that as a whole reflect a firm's alliance management capability influence interaction quality in ITT? (2) How does interaction quality in turn influence technology transfer success? (3) Which configurations of organizational and interactional factors contribute to technology transfer success? By examining the causal chain from alliance management capability through interorganizational interaction quality to technology transfer success, this study explains linkages between important antecedents and consequences of interaction quality and thus contributes to a better understanding of the interorganizational exchange processes that determine technology transfer success.     

The strategic decisions and success factors of the global integration-local responsiveness of Japanese MNCs in China

This article applies Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) theories to the strategic management analysis of the global integration-local responsiveness of multinational corporations (MNCs) in China, from the perspective of company characteristics (ownership advantages and internalization advantages) and environmental dynamics (locational factors) in order to analyze the success factors influencing the sales activities of Japanese MNCs in China. Based on the analysis of a survey conducted on 230 Japanese parent companies with investments in China, the empirical research findings include: Japanese MNCs in China favor global integration strategies; the more significant the ownership advantages and internalization advantages are, the greater the global integration is; the success factors of their operations in China due to global integration are present in manufacturing know-how, procurement of parts and supplies, financial power, previous investment experience in China as well as sales networks and technologies; locational advantages mainly lie in labor cost among other things; internalization factors do not have any significant correlation with the success and performance of the subsidiary company. Translated from Zhongguo Ruankexue 中国软科学 (China Soft Science), 2005, (3): 89–98     

虚拟经营:中小企业未来发展之路

中小企业自身的特点,决定了其只能成为供应链的一环。加入WTO后我国中小企业能否抓住机遇,分享全球化的利益,将会对我国经济带来深远的影响。虚拟经营是一种全新的企业间组织形式,正成为当今国际管理界的新潮流。根据虚拟经营的组织形式,着重分析其对我国中小企业的影响和启示。     

Institutional and corporate drivers of global talent management: Evidence from the Arab Gulf region

This study analyses how talent management (TM) is molded by institutional and corporate drivers. We borrow from the vast institutional literature to understand how organizations adopt and implement TM practices within the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) context. This context is valuable not only because it tackles an under-researched region, but also because the type of variables found further our understanding of TM processes in non-Western contexts. Companies abide by localization rules to sustain their “legal” legitimacy, while trying to improve efficiency through actions that enhance their economic sustainability. Companies try to strike a strategic balance between local adaptation and global assimilation of their TM processes. We conclude by presenting a framework that portrays how various forces impact the TM process.     

Transformation and Rebirth of Chinese Brands: A Case From the Hotel Industry

ABSTRACT

Chinese domestic brands have developed rapidly in recent years, and yet few of them have entered global competition as product or service brands brands with exceptions such as Huawei. In addition, the evolution of Chinese brands has hardly been understood or introduced properly by international business educators. In this article, we identify the development patterns of Chinese domestic brands by using a local hotel brand as an example. Particularly, we examine and discuss how a Chinese brand can be established with specific positioning, brand image, and product offering, as well as how the brand can grow by vertical and horizontal extensions based on balancing market opportunities and the brand’s own capabilities. Moreover, we expect this research to facilitate the understanding of Chinese brands among international business education.     

Emerging market multinationals’ role in facilitating developed country multinationals’ regional expansion: A critical review of the literature and Turkish MNC examples

The recent expansion of emerging market multinationals into world markets has generated a rich literature. While this literature has addressed the potential motivations, behaviors, and strategic implications of these firms’ moves abroad, their possible role as facilitating agents in regional expansion has not been adequately explored. In this paper, we explore this question through a critical review of the literature and examples from Turkish multinationals. We also offer questions for future research.     

An empirical analysis and extension of internalization theory in emerging markets: The role of firm-specific assets and asset dispersion in the multinationality-performance relationship

This study examines the relationship between firm multinationality and financial performance with a focus on firm-specific assets and dispersion of these assets for MNCs from emerging markets. Drawing upon internalization theory, the authors reveal that while the financial performance of manufacturing MNCs depends on technological assets, service MNCs are more dependent on marketing assets to succeed in international markets. Study findings further emphasize the critical role of the industry context in emerging markets as the authors demonstrate that international asset dispersion weakens the effects of internationalization on financial performance more for MNCs in manufacturing industries than for MNCs in services.     

浅议新时期企业思想政治工作面临的难题及思路

当前随着企业经营、改革、发展的不断深入,多元化的经济形式出现,企业思想政治工作面临着新的难题,需要我们不断研究新情况,解决新问题.笔者结合实际工作从五个方面提出了当前企业思想政治工作面临的具体问题,进一步寻求企业思想政治工作的新思路,即围绕企业人事、劳动、分配制度的改革和生产经营,开展有针对性的思想政治工作.     

从国外部门角度对战前日本总供求态势的研究——基于M-L条件和贸易条件学说的分析

对日本1900～1937年宏观经济的数量分析表明,Ex+|Em|=0.74<1,即不能满足马歇尔—勒纳条件;同时,日本的贸易条件与贸易收支为弱正相关,即如无政府干预,贸易收支的改善则依赖进出口物价而不是进出口物量。因此,数量分析支持日本的总供求态势属"供给约束型"的逻辑结论。笔者认为,分析战前日本宏观经济运行时,不应使用以"需求约束型经济"为上位前提的理论框架,特别是凯恩斯经济学的理论。     

Integrating global mobility and global talent management: Exploring the challenges and strategic opportunities

Although global mobility represents an important element of many multinational enterprise's (MNEs) global talent management systems, the two areas of practice have largely been decoupled in research and practice. The current paper aims to build a dialog around the integration of these two important areas of practice and illustrate how the integration of global mobility and global talent management can contribute to the success of the MNE. Human capital and social capital theories are introduced as theoretical frames for the integration of the two areas and global talent pools and routines for managing global staffing flows are introduced as key organizational routines that can maximize the contribution of global mobility to the MNE. The paper also considers challenges and opportunities for the integration of mobility and talent and outlines some directions for future study.     

新时期地球科学发展与地学创新人才培养的思考

面对人类社会发展的新格局和经济社会发展的新需求,地球科学研究视域、学科任务、知识体系和方法手段等正酝酿着新的变革。面对经济社会大转型和新时期地球科学的发展,创新体制机制、培养地学创新人才是地质教育义不容辞的责任和重要课题。创新人才有类别和层次之分,可以区分为学术创新人才、技术创新人才和创业人才,应遵循＂尊重意愿、鉴识潜力、分类培养、通专结合、以专为重＂的方针进行培养。最后给出了一个成都理工大学实施创新人才培养的典型案例。