Resources and governance in “base of the pyramid”-partnerships: Assessing collaborations between businesses and non-business actors

Identifying, building, and maintaining partnerships with non-business actors are crucial challenges for multinational companies (MNCs) when implementing Base of the Pyramid (BoP) projects. Using a multiple-case study we analyze such partnerships through the lens of the relational view, focusing on resources generating inter-organizational value and on mechanisms for governing the partnerships. The cross-case analysis suggests that proficiency in identifying appropriate partners featuring non-tangible synergy-sensitive resources is vital for BoP ventures. MNCs compensate for their lack of local knowledge, contacts, and legitimacy by recruiting non-business actors for this consultancy and brokering function. Once a suitable network of partners has been identified, these resources need to be explored and exploited by developing personal relationships, communication routines, common goals, and partner-specific capacity building. Synergy-sensitive resources facilitate performance and long-term maintenance of BoP partnerships by establishing well-adapted and well-informed management practice and by creating a lock-in that works as an informal self-enforcing governance mechanism.     

Country-of-Origin Effects and Global Brand Trust: A First Look

ABSTRACT

This article reports the results of a global survey that explored the relationship between country of origin and brand trust in 22 product categories. The product categories of interest ranged from high involvement, durable goods (refrigerators, washing machines) to low involvement, fast moving consumer goods (chocolate bars, yogurt, disposable batteries). Respondents included consumers from the United States, Nepal, India, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Bulgaria. Country-of-origin effects yielded the research's most interesting finding: Global brands might have a regional, or meso level, component which brand trust has uncovered for the first time.     

Loyalty and Trust as the Ethical Bases of Organizations

The last years of the 20th Century have been somewhat contradictory with respect to values like loyalty, trust or truthfulness. On the one hand, (often implicitly, but sometimes very explicitly), self-interest narrowly defined seems to be the dominant force in the business world, both in theory and in practice. On the other hand, alliances, networks and other forms of cooperation have shown that self-interest has to be at least "enlightened".The academic literature has reflected both points of view, but frequently in an ambiguous way, since the concepts of loyalty and trust are somewhat elusive and equivocal. This paper attempts to analyze the concept of loyalty in depth, examining the different conceptions about the word that can be found in the literature. We begin by going to the management classics (specifically, Follett, Barnard and Simon), and we then turn to the anthropological approach of Pérez López (1993), with its built-in ethical analysis, and show how trust and loyalty are crucial to the development of organizations. We end by suggesting in what ways loyalty and trust can be created and fostered in organizations.     

Strategic and institutional effects on foreign IPO performance: Examining the impact of country of origin,corporate governance,and host country effects

Integrating signaling and institutional perspectives, we develop and test hypotheses relating institutions and corporate governance to foreign IPO success. Our investigation highlights the importance of three important drivers of foreign IPO success: home country legal institutions, corporate governance, and host capital market choice. This research demonstrates that board independence and country of origin effects are powerful signals. However, these factors do not have a universal impact on foreign IPO success. Instead, the value of home country institutions along with corporate governance signals are contingent upon the institutional environment in which international entrepreneurs choose to seek capital resources.     

Corporate governance in the post Sarbanes-Oxley period: Compensation disclosure and analysis (CD&A)

In recent years, the entire fabric of corporate governance, certainly in the United States, has dramatically changed. With the passage of what has colloquially become known as SOX (the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002), US-based corporations have operated under stricter governance guidelines than at any previous time, especially as regards the structure of boards of directors and financial oversight of the corporation. A now perennial governance “hot button” issue not addressed by SOX is concern over continually rising executive compensation. Until the 2006 adoption of new compensation disclosure guidelines by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), it had been nearly 15 years since federal attention had been devoted to compensation guidelines or regulations. Beginning with 2007 filings, US corporations must now include a Compensation Disclosure and Analysis (CD&A) section. The intent behind the CD&A is to provide investors access to clear explanations of executive compensation and the philosophy that underlies compensation. As often happens, this good intent is accompanied by several unintended risks that may mitigate the effectiveness of the CD&A.     

Market pioneers, late movers, and the resource-based view (RBV): A conceptual model

Lieberman and Montgomery note that “…we see benefits from linking empirical findings on first-mover advantages with the complementary stream of research on the resource-based view of the firm” (1998, p. 1111); they suggest that such a link will help explain differences in firm performance. Therefore, this study develops a conceptual framework linking FMAs with the resource-based view of the firm (RBV); in doing so, this framework explains the links between entry timing, resource management, and firm performance. Specifically, this study examines FMAs in light of a four-step resource management process [Morgan RM. Relationship marketing and marketing strategy: the evolution of relationship strategy within the organization. In: Sheth JN, Parvatiyar A, editors. Handbook of Relationship Marketing. Thousand Oaks, California: SAGE Publications, 2000. p. 481–504.; Morgan RM, Hunt S. Relationship-based competitive advantage: the role of relationship marketing in marketing strategy. J Bus Res 1999; 46 (November): 281–90.] consisting of: 1) efficient acquisition (EA), 2) bundling/combining (BC), 3) positioning (POS), and 4) maintenance/protection (MP). The link between FMAs and the resource management process helps explain why so few first movers retain their advantages.     

订单农业中交易关系的治理机制与风险防范——基于辽宁盛德集团的案例研究

采用案例研究方法,以辽宁省盛德集团订单肉鸡养殖为背景,对相对完善的契约条款和农村人际关系是如何有效地规避交易关系中的各种风险及稳定交易关系进行了研究。研究发现:采用复合治理机制(契约治理与关系治理)更有利于订单农业中各种风险的规避和交易关系的稳定;根植于农村社会的人际关系及以此为基础的关系治理机制对订单农业中道德风险和信用风险具有重要的防范作用。     

The Nature of the Firm, Agency Theory and Shareholder Theory: A Critique from Philosophical Anthropology

Standard accounts on the nature of the firm are highly dependent on explanations by Coase, coupled with inputs from agency theory and shareholder theory. This paper carries out their critique in light of personalist and common good postulates. It shows how personalist and common good principles create a framework that not only accommodates business ethics better but also affords a more compelling understanding of business as a whole.Joan Fontrodona is Assistant Professor of Business Ethics and Academic Director of the Center for Business in Society at IESE Business School. He is member of the Academic Board of EABIS and member of the Executive Committee of EBEN-Spain.Alejo José G. Sison is the Rafael Escolá Chair of Professional Ethics (TECNUN) with appointments from the Philosophy Department and the Institute of Enterprise and Humanism of the University of Navarra.     

供应商专项投资与感知的合作风险:关系发展阶段与控制机制的调节作用研究

This study examines the dynamic nature of suppliers’ perceived relational risks arising from transaction-specific investments (TSIs) in their relationship with manufacturers, and the moderating effects of contracts and relational norms, during the developmental process of manufacturer-supplier relationship. An empirical study was conducted with data collected from 261 suppliers and manufacturers in the Chinese consumer electronic appliances sector. We found that suppliers’ TSIs have a positive effect on their perceived relational risks, and in different phases of a relationship effect varies significantly. Results of the research also show that both contracts and relational norms have negative moderating effects on the relationship between suppliers’ TSIs and their perceived relational risks, and moderating effects during are different across various phases of a relationship. Translated from Zhongguo Guanli Kexue 中国管理科学 (Chinese Management Science), 2006, 14(1): 30–36