FDI entry mode choice of Chinese firms: A strategic behavior perspective

This study investigates the determinants of foreign direct investment (FDI) entry mode choice between a wholly owned subsidiary and a joint venture by Chinese firms that invest overseas. We argue that the FDI entry mode choice of a Chinese firm is primarily influenced by the variables related to the firm's strategic fit in host industry and its strategic intent of conducting FDI. Using survey data of a sample of 138 Chinese firms, the results suggest that a Chinese firm prefers wholly owned subsidiary entry mode when it adopts a global strategy, faces severe host industry competition, and emphasizes assets seeking purposes in its FDI. A joint venture is preferred when the firm is investing in a high growth host market.     

Do culturally distant partners choose different types of joint ventures?

Studies of international joint ventures yield conflicting results when looking at the role played by cultural distance. We argue that managers understand the problems associated with cultural distance and seek to mitigate its impact by selecting certain types of joint ventures. Using Das and Teng's [Das, T. K., & Teng, B.-S. (2001). A risk-perception model of alliance structuring. Journal of International Management, 7(1): 1–30] typology of unilateral and bilateral alliances to categorize a sample of ventures based on their strategic focus, our results indicate that greater cultural distance is associated with an increased probability that a marketing or supplier alliance will be formed and a lower probability that an innovation-oriented alliance will be formed.     

International Equity Joint Ventures in Ghana and Cote D'Ivoire

Abstract

This paper examines international equity joint ventures (IJVs) in West Africa, presenting data from 45 British and French alliances with local partners in Ghana and Cote D'Ivoire. A comparison with prior studies finds remarkable consistency in the characteristics of IJVs between firms from DCs and LDCs in the following dimensions: motives, instability, asymmetry in equity distribution, frequency of government association, source of CEO, autonomy in management. Differences in IJVs between developed and less developed countries appear cursory rather than fundamental and focus on MNEs' dissatisfaction with IJV performance, the control relationship, and level of equity.     

Strategic planning and performance: Extending the debate

This article extends the debate regarding the relationship between strategic planning and performance. It addresses criticism of previous empirical studies that have largely investigated direct and bi-variate relationships, producing equivocal results. The current study investigates the mediating effects of four types of flexibility on the strategic planning and performance relationship. Flexibility is defined as the extent to which new and alternative decisions are generated and considered in strategic planning, allowing for positive organizational change and adaptation to environmental turbulence. Through investigating simultaneous equations in a structural equation model, we find that two types of flexibility mediate the relationship between strategic planning and financial performance, while the other two types mediate the relationship between strategic planning and non-financial performance. The results are new empirical insights that have not been previously reported.     

A Strategic Perspective of Communication and Information Systems in Marketing Channels

Ifnormation and communication systems are not finance, marketing, or logistics domains. They are corporate/strategic domains that must focus on channel management issues. The corporate strategies and strategic postures of manufacturers and distributors alike have traditionally been driven by marketing, financial, and sometimes logistical considerations. Given the strategic impact of information and communication systems, there are good reasons to believe that the future may hold interorganizational strategic management thrusts driven by information and communication systems linkages. The author explores these strategic thrusts and presents a framework illustrative of the trajectory of alternative strategic and tactical vectors for marketing channel information and communication.     

Are we on the same page?: Justice agreement in international joint ventures

This study examines the organizational and personal level conditions under which boundary spanners in an international joint venture (IJV) tend to disagree with each other regarding procedural justice. Nested within the logic of boundary spanning and building on the integrated justice theory and joint venture theory, this study develops an overarching framework explaining organizational- and individual-level factors impacting the level of disagreement. Our analysis of 182 IJVs in a large emerging market suggests that such disagreement increases with objective gap, ownership asymmetry, and environmental uncertainty but decreases with mutual familiarity between cross-cultural partner firms. Disagreement is also reduced when boundary spanners have more experience in managing IJVs and a longer period working together.     

Financial slack and venture managers' decisions to seek a new alliance

We examine two distinct perspectives to analyze the role of financial slack in the decisions of technology venture managers to seek strategic alliances. According to the capabilities perspective, financial slack provides managers with the ability to maximize the benefits from acquiring missing capabilities through alliance formation, whereas according to the resource dependence perspective, financial slack buffers the managers' motivations to seek alliances as a reaction to external environmental scarcity. Drawing on an experimental design and data on 1632 decisions nested within 51 managers, we find support for a combined perspective demonstrating that managerial discretion in the form of financial slack moderates how internal capabilities and context encourage managers to seek alliances. We discuss implications of our work for the alliance literature.     

浙江省中小企业国际化过程中“抱团”策略的实证分析

浙江省中小企业抱团取暖共克时艰的生动案例充分体现了其敢为天下先的创新特质,不仅有效地解决了中小企业国际化过程中的困难和问题,也为进一步研究中小企业战略联盟模式的发展提供了有益的素材。     

A strategic groups approach to the franchising–performance relationship

Although franchising is a pervasive organizational form, little is known about its performance consequences. Prior studies have not found a direct performance effect, suggesting a need for alternative approaches. Drawing upon agency and resource scarcity theories, we develop the idea that strategic groups exist among franchisors and that performance differs among the groups. Using a sample of 65 restaurant chains, three strategic groups were found. The strategic group most influenced to franchise out of resource scarcity exhibited poorer performance than the other two groups. Results indicate that important, but nonlinear, relationships exist among franchising, its antecedents, and performance.     

从联系的视角看东西方合资企业中的组织学习

合资企业通过组织学习来实现知识转移,提高组织效能与竞争力的问题已引起理论界越来越多的关注。在东西方合资企业中,合资双方在资源、技术能力方面的差异导致了合作伙伴权力的不对称性,给学习与合作关系带来了不利影响。本文提出,为了把握合资企业组织学习与伙伴关系的动态性,合资双方应超越“掌握知识和技能”的局限性,从联系的视角理解构成学习过程的关系和情绪问题。     

Strategic fit, contractual, and procedural governance in alliances

This paper focuses on the simultaneous mediating and moderating effects of different governance mechanisms on the relationship between conditions for alliance formation and outcome. Alliance governance takes two distinct forms: contractual integration and procedural coordination. While contracts may help set the legal parameters of the alliance agreement, it is day-to-day coordination of activities and processes that determine the effectiveness of such contracts. The proposed framework explains how knowledge outcome of collaborative relationships may be determined by the match of partner motives, influenced by the mix of contractual and procedural governance. A series of testable propositions helps answer the following question. Do combinations of contractual and procedural governance mechanisms, given specific strategic fit, explain knowledge performance differentials?     

The importance of structure and process to strategy implementation

A study involving over 200 senior managers demonstrates that overall firm performance is strongly influenced by how well a firm's business strategy is matched to its organizational structure and the behavioral norms of its employees. The authors identify a taxonomy comprised of four different combinations of structure/behavior types, which they label as: Management Dominant, Customer-Centric Innovators, Customer-Centric Cost Controllers, and Middle Ground. These alternative structure/behavior types are then matched with specific business strategies (i.e., Prospectors, Analyzers, Low Cost Defenders, Differentiated Defenders) in order to identify which combination(s) of structures and behaviors best serve to facilitate the process of implementing a specific strategy.     

Sponsorship relationships as strategic alliances: A life cycle model approach

In recent years, academics and practitioners have recognized that sponsorship relationships operate as strategic alliances. Additionally, they have emphasized the lack of analytical approaches which allow an understanding of the developmental process of such alliances. In an attempt to fill this gap, we examine how key sponsorship characteristics change over different stages of the life cycle (formation, operation, and outcome) to determine the success or failure of the relationship. Specifically, we propose a life cycle model that articulates general paths in sponsorship relationship developmental stages and the behavior pattern of sponsorship characteristics. Throughout this framework, we illustrate our reasoning with examples drawn from the UBS/Team Alinghi sponsorship relationship.     

Strategic alliances by financial services firms

We examine a sample of strategic alliances made by financial services firms during 1986 to 2003. The market reacts positively to the announcements of alliances and seems to incorporate the information about the value of alliances at the time of alliance announcements. We find no evidence of abnormal stock performance after announcements. Our results also suggest that strategic alliances usually are used as a final form of cooperation rather than as a first step towards closer cooperation between firms. For instance, only about 5% of alliances are followed with joint ventures or mergers of partner firms. Nevertheless, strategic alliance firms are more likely to form joint ventures or merge than randomly selected and matched firms. Furthermore, the market reacts more favorably to the alliance announcements by firms that are subsequently acquired by the alliance partners.     

区域经济联盟的战略基地:我国经济特区发展的新路径

经济特区要继续“特”下去,应在区域经济一体化中扮演特殊角色,成为区域经济联盟的战略基地,其发展构想是:“融入两区,参与联盟,成为基地,进而融入国际经济体系”。     

Cooperative learning in creating and managing joint ventures

This study examines how and under what conditions joint ventures facilitate cooperative learning. The study analyzes how a joint-venture approach facilitates initial learning in the cooperative process and considers to what extent inter-organizational factors such as commitment, trust, control and conflict resolution affect the partners involved. The study then compares these hypotheses based on a sample of 74 international joint ventures (IJVs). The results provide empirical evidence to show that commitment is both a significant and essential variable, yet they also illustrate that this type of cooperation is not enough on its own for partners to learn how to cooperate effectively.     

关于我国新一轮吸引外商直接投资的思考

本文简要回顾了我国近十几年来外商直接投资的发展状况,提出在吸引外国大型企业的同时,应注意外资优质中小企业的引资工作。通过以营利性为目的的第三方管理公司为桥梁、以政府支持为后盾,积极吸引外资优质中小企业来华投资、大力推进中、外中小企业战略联盟,力促外资优质中小企业来华投资成功,使之成为提高我国外资质量,推动我国新一轮吸引外商直接投资的新动力。