Brand‐building in the 1990s

This paper argues that now is the time to consider how one should seek to apply marketing principles and practice in an increasingly competitive and rapidly changing environment. In essence, the thesis is that as it becomes increasingly difficult to sustain an objective comparative advantage over one's competitors so it will become increasingly important to position organizations as “brands” in the minds of actual and potential customers.     

Has Import Disciplined Swedish Manufacturing Firms in the 1990s?

This paper analyses how increased integration and the ongoing enlargement of the EUs internal market affected the performance of Swedish manufacturing firms. The pro-competitive effect of international trade, in term of intensified import competition on domestic firms market power, has been investigated extensively at the industry-level. In contrast to previous studies, this analysis is based on detailed firm-level information and import data divided into both an EU member group and a group of recently approved EU member candidates. It focuses on how imports from these groups, together with imports from other non-European trading partners, impact on firm-level profitability, while taking firm-specific efficiency effects into account. The findings are that imports from the new EU-candidates, Japan and Asian newly industrialized countries seem to have a disciplinary effect on firm-level profits, whereas imports from EU-member countries only appear to have an impact on firms with large market shares and in highly concentrated industries.     

Human Resource Management of Japanese Companies in Hungary: How do Japanese and Hungarian Styles Blend?

ABSTRACT

A qualitative interview-based research with 32 participating companies, this article investigates the human resource management practices of Japanese subsidiaries in Hungary. The findings indicate that human resource management practices in Hungarian subsidiaries of Japanese companies are characterized as a hybrid of Japanese and Hungarian styles. Greater Japanese influence was found in the characteristics of the human resources department, corporate culture, safety practices, and trainings, whereas greater Hungarian influence was found in pay, benefits, and recruitment methods. The findings contribute uniquely to the understanding of whether and how the country-of-origin effect, localization effect, and dominance effect interplay in configuring human resource management practices in foreign subsidiaries of multinational companies.     

A Heideggerian Perspectiveon the Relationship Between Mintzberg’s Distinction Between Engagedand Disconnected Management: The Roleof Uncertainty in Management

In the context of uncertainty and anxiety regarding the role of leadership and management, this article explores the relationship between Mintzberg’s concept of the distinction between the engaged and disconnected manager, Heidegger’s notion authentic and inauthentic being and Benner and Wrubel’s distinction between two forms of professional practice attunement: an attunement to technique and an attunement to lived experience. It argues that while Mintzberg outlines the distinction between engaged and disengaged management, he does not develop an understanding of the conditions which lead a manager to be either engaged or disconnected. The role of anxiety in Heidegger’s distinction between authentic and inauthentic being and the role of stress and worry in Benner and Wrubel’s distinction between an attunement to technique and an attune-ment to the lived experience of professional practice provides the basis for understanding the relationship between engaged and disconnected management. After developing the theoretical perspectives of Mintzberg, Heidegger, Benner and Wrubel, two examples are presented: one of the way in which an engaged manager experiences anxiety as an opportunity for greater attune-ment to lived experience and one who experiences anxiety as a condition for disconnection and detachment from the lived experience of his leadership practice.     

Key Industrial Products to Be Developed in Beijing in the 1990s

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Downsizing in the German chemical manufacturing industry during the 1990s. Why is small beautiful?

The German chemical manufacturing industry experienced major downsizing between 1992 and 2004, with the average size of firms shrinking by nearly half during this period. This study uses modern frontier efficiency analysis to investigate the determinants of this downsizing. Based on reliable census data, the results of this analysis suggest that firms were not primarily concerned with improving technical efficiency, but with establishing an optimal scale of production. The proportion of scale-efficient firms has been persistently increasing, and downsizing is found to be a rational conduct because all scale-inefficient firms have continually operated under the decreasing returns portion of technology.     

What to Learn from the Japanese? The Process of Japanese-Style Management Transfer to China

Many Chinese and Japanese believe that Japanese-style management methods are a vital factor in establishing the international competitiveness of ‘Japanese-Funded Enterprises’ in China, and both sides thus favour the transfer of such methods to China. This contribution considers three basic questions about the process of this transfer: what kind of Japanese-style management methods have been transferred to China, how has this transfer been effected, and what problems have hindered the transfer? It is argued that many ideas in Japanese-style management draw upon material from ancient China. A detailed case study is presented of a Sino–Japanese joint venture in the fashion industry in Beijing, outlining in some depth the venture's management skills training programme, both to show the kinds of methods which are being introduced and how this introduction is being handled. Finally, there is a brief discussion of the dificulties of assimilating Japanese-style management methods in China, which highlights the importance (for the Chinese) of learning the ‘essence’ of Japanese management.     

Can the Japanese Economy Rebound?

The Japanese economy has begun to show signs of recovery from its deepest post WWII recession. Although it is generally acknowledged that the recovery is not based on solid foundations, there is elation within Japan regarding the prospects for renewed economic growth. Yet little or no attention seems to be paid to what is happening to Japanese technological innovation, the engine that drives growth. The article shows that the impressive technological excellence of the famed Japanese companies is simultaneously accompanied by a decline in overall Japanese technological innovation. This is attributed to the dual nature of the Japanese economy, where super‐strong exporting industries co‐exist with super‐weak domestic sectors, and to Japan's adherence to outdated perceptions and policies. However, the potential for recovery is within reach: galvanise the backward leg of the dual economy and healthy growth would ensue; restore confidence in the healthy leg and things would be better still; add to this a recipe for responsible macroeconomic management and the prospects would be rosier.     

Japanese Women in Management: Getting Closer to ‘Realities’ in Japan

Women managers are seldom seen in Japan. Female legislators, senior officials and managers are only 9 per cent of the total. It is also one of the main factors that have created the significant gender wage gap; female workers earned just 66.5 per cent of male worker earnings in 2002. This contribution explores reasons for the persistent phenomenon of very few female managers in the Japanese workplace despite economic and political factors favourable for ‘empowering’ women. To what extent is this situation explained by the cliché that women lack the ‘will’ to be promoted? The common explanation is that women ‘choose’ not to be promoted or leave their jobs because of their ‘attitude’ to marriage, birth and family responsibilities. Is that all? A recent study on work organization revealed the mechanism of constructing female private ‘attitudes’ and ‘choice’ within the organization. Although this new approach seems promising, this contribution argues that its local-oriented approach should be combined with macro analysis, especially focusing on the institutionalized practices beyond each workplace.     

Are Two Incomes Needed to Prosper Today? Evidence from the 1960s to the 1990s

Consumer Expenditure Survey data from 1960 to 1996 are used to examine trends in real consumption, real after‐tax income, market work time, and real after‐tax wages for single‐earner and dual‐earner households. Over the entire time period, most households experienced substantial improvements in measures of their prosperity. However, economic progress was considerably reduced when the comparison was from 1972 to 1996. Also, wage changes dominated changes in market work time over all time periods.     

Is the Optimism in CEO’s Letters to Shareholders Sincere? Impression Management Versus Communicative Action During the Economic Crisis

In this study, we explore the sincerity of the rhetorical tone of 664 annual letters to shareholders (CEO letters). Prior studies adopt Impression Management theory to predict that firms obfuscate failures and emphasize successes to unfairly enhance their image and maintain organizational legitimacy. Yuthas et al. (J Bus Ethics 41:141–157, 2002) challenged such a view, showing that firms reporting earnings surprises engage in ethical discourse with shareholders. We adopt the methodology of Yuthas et al. (J Bus Ethics 41:141–157, 2002) to explore the association between firm performance and the rhetorical features of CEO letters in a large sample of Fortune 500 firms in the wake of the global economic crisis. In contrast to most prior research, we find that optimistic tone is congruent with both past and future performance. We conclude that under tough macroeconomic conditions, incentives to distort public information strategically are low. Rather, firms tend to engage in communicative action aimed at dialoguing with shareholders through sincere disclosure. However, in our conclusions, we warn about the impact of accounting and rhetorical manipulation on the congruence between optimistic tone and financial performance.     

A Stakeholder’s Perspective on Human Resource Management

In order to understand the system wherein human resource management practices are determined by the interactions of a complex system of actors, it is necessary to have a conceptual framework of analysis. In this respect, the works of scholars (Mitroff, 1983, Stakeholders of the Organizational Mind, Jessey-Bass; Freeman, 1984, Strategic Management: A Stakeholder Approach, Pitman) concerning stakeholder theory opened new perspectives in management theory. An organisation is understood as being part of a politico-economic system of stakeholders who interact and influence management practices. Each stakeholder tries to optimise and protect his interests (Frooman, 1999, Academy of Management Review 24, 191–205; Savage et al., 1991, Academy of Management Executive 5(2), 61–75). The framework of stakeholder analysis enables escape from a purely instrumental approach to HRM, and avoids reducing our understanding of conflicts within companies to mere antagonism between employees and their employers. It enables us to point out the existence of other stakeholders in the relationship. Notably, it allows for the incorporation into management theory of actors from the sphere of politics (president of the republic, government, national elected representatives – deputies and senators – and locally elected representatives – mayors and regional councillors, etc.) as well as their dependent administrations. All these actors are considered to be stakeholders who define the legal framework of firm management and guarantee the application of these laws.     

“Organised irresponsibility”? The Siemens corruption scandal of the 1990s and 2000s

Abstract

Siemens is one of the world’s leading electrical engineering corporations. In 2006, a massive corruption scandal erupted, concluded in 2008 with a record fine. For Siemens the largest risk was being barred from government contracts. As a consequence, it replaced virtually its entire managing board, an unprecedented procedure in the history of the company. This article looks at the background of the scandal. Why did Siemens employees engage in corruption and dubious payments on such a grand scale? What does this case tell us about the compliance revolution that took place in the 2000s?     

Determinants of the Profitability of Japanese Manufacturing Affiliates in China and Other Regions: Does Localisation of Procurement,Sales and Management Matter?

Does localisation of procurements, sales and management contribute to the profitability of overseas affiliates? This study examines this question by analysing the performance of Japanese multinationals’ manufacturing affiliates in China using an affiliate‐level dataset for the period from 1989 to 2002 collected by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. We find that even though foreign multinationals often seem to enter China for the local market potential, affiliates with a higher local sales ratio tend to be less profitable – a pattern that is conspicuously different from that observed for Japanese affiliates in other regions such as the USA or the ASEAN4, where local sales orientation has a positive impact on profitability. On the other hand, we find that Japanese affiliates’ profitability was positively associated with their local procurement ratio. Using the coefficients of the profit function estimated from data on all Japanese manufacturing affiliates around the world, we calculate the effect of local sales and procurements on profitability by country, controlling for the level of GDP and per capita GDP. In the case of China, the localisation effects are positive following the country’s accession to the WTO, suggesting that both local procurement and sales expansion contribute to higher profitability in China.     

Minister Wu Yi On the Development of China's Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation in the 1990s

Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation Wu Yi made a report entitled Opportunity and Prospects: Basic Thoughts on the Development of China's Foreign Trade and Economic Relations in the 1990s to Chinese and foreign participants working in this fields at an international seminar on China's Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation held in Beijing in mid-May.     

What is the CSR’s Focus in Healthcare?

The concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been the subject of several academic contributions, but in the health sector the development of an interest in this subject is very recent. Although many practices in healthcare are already socially responsible, progressing from a series of socially responsible behaviours to a socially responsible organization entails a more consolidated awareness of the health sector’s mission and the needs of its participants. In this paper, we will review the different studies published that address the relationship between the healthcare sector’s corporate responsibility and society, with the aims of individuating the prevailing foci that are emerging and categorizing the proposed contributions according to these foci: social responsibility and organization; social responsibility and social impact; social responsibility and competitiveness. Finally, the paper finishes with a personal definition of CSR and its correlated ethical roots.