A New Framework Integrating Environmental Effects into Technology Evaluation

This study aims to propose a framework considering both economic issues and environmental effects in technology evaluation in order to provide firms’ decision makers a useful reference in adopting technologies that will enable them to fulfill corporate social responsibilities and get competitive advantages at the same time. Recently, the demands for technology evaluation have increased with the flourishing development of technology licensing, technology transaction or joint venture on the one hand and with the pressing needs of environmental protection for human beings’ sustainable development on the other hand. Under such conditions, it thus goes without saying that firms’ decision makers are propelled to take into account both economic benefits and environmental effects in evaluating technologies by choosing low or nonpolluting technologies for manufacturing products. Although technology evaluation is not a new and emerging subject currently besetting scholars in the field of management, previous research on this topic has unwittingly left behind the pressing issue of environmental effects. Based on this observation, this study purports to develop a new framework for technology evaluation by taking both economic benefits and environmental perspectives into consideration. In it, we seek to demonstrate that our proposed framework will not only be a workable model but also can serve as a useful point of reference for technology appraisers and firms’ decision makers.     

Complementary Resources and Capabilities for an Ethical and Environmental Management: A Qual/Quan Study

Managers’ commitment to contribute to sustainable development holds the key to their long-term business success and may be a source of competitive advantage. The managerial perception of business ethics is influenced by the level of moral development and personal characteristics of managers. These perceptions are also shaped by forces existing in the environment of the firm, including available resources, societal expectations, sector, and regulations. The resource-based perspective can thus contribute to the analysis of ethical issues offering important insights on how they can influence the environmental strategy of the firm. The findings of this study show that firm resources have a strong influence on business managers’ ethical attitudes. In addition, the application of resource-based rationales to ethical issues can be justified in the following several ways: it influences a managerial perception of natural environment as a competitive opportunity, it requires investments of financial and human resources, flexibility and speed in the adaptation to environmental changes, and it creates new resource-based opportunities through changes in prevention pollution technology, policy process, and market forces.     

The battleship strategy: The complementing role of born globals in MNC’s new opportunity creation

In the high-tech industries, new innovations affect a multinational company’s (MNC’s) competitive advantage. This article empirically explores why and how MNCs complement their in-house R&D by forming strategic alliance constellations with small, innovative born globals. We focus on loose, non-equity opportunity-seeking co-opetitive relationships. We call this approach the battleship strategy. The critical elements of an MNC’s battleship strategy include an open innovation commercialization strategy and creation of forums for facilitating open innovation and capturing ideas generated externally. Hence, we suggest that MNCs may externalize some of their innovation activities while gaining a competitive advantage through access to open innovation. This article contributes in several ways to earlier research focusing on the strategic alliances and networks formed between MNCs and born globals by examining the relationship from an MNC’s perspective.     

Technological opportunism and firm performance: Moderating contexts

Technological opportunism is a sense-and-respond capability of firms with respect to new technologies. This research examines the effect of technological opportunism on firm performance from the dynamic capabilities' perspective, and how such an effect depends on relevant firm and/or market contingencies. Analyzing data from a variety of Taiwanese manufacturing industries, the authors find that technological opportunism has a positive effect on firm performance. The technological opportunism–firm performance link is negatively moderated by market orientation and network externality, and positively moderated by technological turbulence. These results confirm the underlying theme of the dynamic capabilities approach to technological changes and contextual (environmental and organizational) relevance. The finding that technological opportunism and market orientation fail to produce any synergistic impact implies that technological opportunism is a more influential source of a firm's competitive advantage.     

Marketing in Chinese Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs): The State of the Art in a Chinese Socialist Economy

This paper adopts the context-embedded approach to examine the marketing practices of 307 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the People’’s Republic of China by comparing the survey findings with that of Hong Kong and Guangdong SMEs. Chinese SMEs focus on regional markets to avoid direct competition with Hong Kong SMEs in the international markets and also their Guangdong counterparts in the turbulent nationwide market. To market their own brands, Chinese SMEs have to analyze the market and use superior marketing strategies in the competitive markets. Chinese SMEs do not attain the superior competitive positions as that of their Guangdong counterparts, but they use customer satisfaction surveys and claims investigation to help develop excellence in product performance. Also, Chinese SMEs have to provide value-added products and services and also a well-rounded marketing competitive strategy to gain market shares. The traditional state-owned enterprise structure in China facilitates the development of hierarchical organizational structure and joint decision making process. Thus, care should be taken in assuming that marketing tools and techniques are equally applicable across all places, even in similar cultural contexts. Socio-cultural influences and mediating environmental factors should be considered when attempting to understand the marketing practices of Chinese small firms, specifically when China is in transition to a socialist market economy.     

Competition and Innovation in Luxembourg

This paper studies the empirical relation between market competition and innovation using Luxembourg’s Structural Business Statistics. The competitive pressure in Luxembourg’s markets is assessed by computing a profit elasticity measure, based on the idea of cost-efficiency. From this, the paper analyses the relation between competition and innovation performance by estimating an equation for the determinants of R&D expenditure. The results show that Luxembourg’s industries are characterised by low levels of competition intensity, especially in markets relevant to competition policy and regulation. The relation between competition and innovation is non-linear and depends crucially on the efficient use of inputs to production. The impact of the distribution of technological efficiency on innovation is assessed by measuring both average technology gap and technology spread. The innovation effort is increasing as industries are closer to the frontier, and decreasing in the technology spread.     

A Multidimensional Approach to the Influence of Environmental Marketing and Orientation on the Firm’s Organizational Performance

Since it implies a reduction in the quality and the quantity of the natural resources, environmental degradation is a present day problem that requires immediate solutions. This situation is driving firms to undertake an environmental transformation process with the purpose of reducing the negative externalities that come from their economic activities. Within this context, environmental marketing is an emerging business philosophy by which organizations can address sustainability issues. Moreover, environmental marketing and orientation are seen as valuable strategies to improve a firm’s competitiveness. However, the literature that has analyzed the link between environmental strategies and firms’ results has been inconclusive and contradictory. In this study, we propose and test a model that analyses how the implementation of ecological issues within a firm’s marketing strategy and orientation influences organizational results. Data were obtained through a survey sent to Spanish manufacturing firms. The results show that environmental marketing positively affects firms’ operational and commercial performance and this improvement will influence their economic results. Moreover, environmental marketing is revealed as an excellent strategy to obtain competitive advantages in costs and in product differentiation. Thus, this study agrees with the researchers who affirm that environmental strategies positively affect firm’s competitiveness while reducing environmental impact.     

高新技术企业持续创新能力评价研究

持续创新是企业在变化的市场中获得持续竞争优势的关键。通过对高新技术企业持续创新能力的构成分析及评价研究,在超竞争条件下,企业现存的优势会连续地被侵蚀,并以逐渐加快的速度丧失。运用评估模型,以科学、合理的评价指标体系为依据,对企业持续创新能力进行测度,可以发现持续创新能力培育与提升中存在的问题,从而帮助企业及时采取措施,培育和发展新的其有潜在价值的竞争优势,消除瓶颈因素,确保企业在激烈市场竞争中的长期竞争优势,实现持续经济效益和持续创新发展。     

Is There Room at the Bottom for CSR? Corporate Social Responsibility and Nanotechnology in the UK

Nanotechnologies are enabling technologies which rely on the manipulation of matter on the scale of billionths of a metre. It has been argued that scientific uncertainties surrounding nanotechnologies and the inability of regulatory agencies to keep up with industry developments mean that voluntary regulation will play a part in the development of nanotechnologies. The development of technological applications based on nanoscale science is now increasingly seen as a potential test case for new models of regulation based on future-oriented responsibility, lifecycle risk management, and upstream public engagement. This article outlines findings from a project undertaken in 2008–2009 for the UK Government’s Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) by BRASS at Cardiff University, involving an in-depth survey both of current corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting in the UK nanotechnologies industry, and of attitudes to particular stakeholder issues within the industry. The article analyses the results to give an account of the nature of corporate social performance (CSP) within the industry, together with the particular model of CSR operating therein (‘do no harm’ versus ‘positive social force’). It is argued that the nature of emerging technologies requires businesses to adopt particular visions of CSR in order to address stakeholder issues, and that the nanotechnologies industry presents specific obstacles and opportunities in this regard.     

The Impact of Technological Turbulence on Entrepreneurial Behavior, Social Norms and Ethics: Three Internet-based Cases

We investigate the entrepreneurial opportunities and ethical dilemmas presented by technological turbulence. More specifically we investigate the line between Baumol’s [J. Polit. Econ. 98 (1990) 893] productive (e.g. innovation), unproductive (e.g. rent seeking) and destructive (e.g. criminal) entrepreneurship through three examples of Internet innovation – spam (destructive), music file sharing (unproductive), and Internet pharmacies (potentially productive). The emergence of accessible Internet technologies, under present norms, has created the potential for all three entrepreneurial activities. Because of the propensity for self-serving biases and for bending the rules, the need for creativity in overcoming obstacles and overall liabilities of newness, entrepreneurs are likely to challenge established industrial morals and laws. Unlike new entrants, incumbents must abide by the currently accepted norms, and thus suffer from “liabilities of oldness”. The challenge for new entrants is to change sociopolitical legitimacy, whereas incumbents need to defend the established norms. We discuss competitive and other issues that result from technological turbulence and innovation.     

The effect of early international commitment on international positional advantages in Spanish and Belgian international new ventures

Past research into internationalisation processes assumes that prior experience influences both a firm’s capability to absorb foreign market knowledge and its international competitiveness. However, recent international entrepreneurship research seems to suggest that an early international commitment can also contribute to develop competitive advantages. Further study of this relationship will provide a better understanding of the competitive behaviour of international new ventures. This paper focuses on how international new ventures acquire market knowledge from foreign markets and develop sustainable positional advantages there. The hypotheses derived from our model were tested using extended data gathered from samples of Spanish and Belgian new ventures. To support the validity of the scale content used, all the items were taken from a review of related literature. We attempted to ensure that they meet the conceptual definition and reflect all the relevant dimensions. We used confirmatory analysis to evaluate convergent validity. A structural equation model was used to test the research hypotheses. The results of the data analysis allow us to confirm that an early international commitment influences the positional advantages of international new ventures, since it facilitates the development of market orientation.     

Understanding Social Welfare Capitalism,Private Property,and the Government’s Duty to Create a Sustainable Environment

No one would deny that sustainability is necessary for individual, business, and national survival. How this goal is to be accomplished is a matter of great debate. In this article I will show that the United States and other developed countries have a duty to create sustainable cities, even if that is against a notion of private property rights considered as an absolute. Through eminent domain and regulation, developed countries can fulfill their obligations to current and future generations. To do so, the governments must reject perfectly competitive free market capitalism and the absolute right to private property, and more fully adopt social welfare capitalism as their economic system. The result will be a sustainable society that balances democracy, individual rights and individual flourishing with the community’s flourishing.     

大数据、人工智能与厂商竞争路径

经济学对市场竞争路径的学理性分析,主要集中在价格确定、产量确定、规模经济、产业组织等方面,而对科技进步引发市场竞争路径的变化并没有足够的关注。其实,市场竞争路径变化的底蕴是科技进步,只是经济学家在分析市场竞争路径时偏好于将科技因素作为外生变量处理。大数据和人工智能等的发展可谓是一场史无前例的科技革命,它对人类经济活动产生广泛而深刻的影响主要表现为：大数据及其运用怎样影响厂商投资经营,大数据与机器学习等人工智能手段相融合会在哪些方面改变厂商竞争路径,厂商如何提高数据智能化和实现网络协同化,在什么样的条件下会出现行业垄断,等等。文章的基本分析观点是：厂商竞争路径变化是贯穿于大数据、互联网和人工智能等相互融合过程的一种现象,这种现象对应于新科技进步和运用的不同层级;微观经济分析需要将新科技因素作为内生变量,通过分析大数据、机器学习与厂商竞争路径之间的关联,揭示厂商竞争路径变化机理以及由此引致的产业组织等问题。     

The Relationship Between Competition and Incumbent’s Innovation

A static model is developed to analyse the incumbent’s innovation strategy under monopoly and duopoly. A number of potential objectives for the incumbent are modelled here, including the maximization of revenue, profit, and welfare (which are common among the network industries). Its marginal cost depends upon investment in new technologies and processes. The incumbent chooses its price and its level of investment in innovation. The incumbent’s elasticity of demand under both market structures and the incumbent’s market share under duopoly determine which market structure creates more incentives to innovate. For certain values of these variables, duopoly provides more incentives to innovate than monopoly. As expected, the incentives to innovate increase when the incumbent places greater weight on social welfare.     

Firm Networking and Bribery in China: Assessing Some Potential Negative Consequences of Firm Openness

Economic openness, both in terms of increased international trade exposure and enhanced inter-firm networking, has been a key element of China’s economic emergence since the implementation of market reforms and the “opening-up policy” over 30 years ago. Unfortunately, these changes have also coincided with the increased incidence of bribery and corruption. Both in general, and in the specific context of China, research on the relationship between a firm’s tendency toward openness and its propensity to engage in bribery is scarce. This study seeks to fill this gap based on empirical evidence provided by a large sample of Chinese firms. The findings of the study reveal that firms’ increased networking and openness tend to occur contemporaneously with greater bribery and corruption. We suggest that this may be due to the misuse of guanxi-based networks that coincide with the presence of firms’ open network strategies, heightened by the potential loss of resource and capability heterogeneity (and hence reduced competitive advantages) in the context of openness. We further find that firms paying bribes do so as an attempt to overcome unnecessary bureaucratic processes and ineffective institutional support that might tend to hinder their development.     

Is market orientation affected by the product life cycle?

Considerable scholarly interest has been shown in the relationship between market orientation and business performance. Although a number of environmental moderators have been postulated to influence the market orientation–performance link, extant findings are inconclusive. This study takes a different approach by conceptualizing product life cycle stages in terms of variations in competitive intensity, market and technological turbulence. Data collected in Hong Kong reveal that Atuahene-Gima's [Atuahene-Gima, K. (1995). An exploratory analysis of the impact of market orientation on new product performance: A contingent approach. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 12: 275–293] product life cycle measure successfully discriminates stages in terms of market and technological turbulence, but fails to capture variation in competitive intensity. Market orientation is also found to be more highly valued by firms in growing and mature markets than firms in introductory and declining markets. Finally, the link between market orientation and firm performance is found to be strongest for firms in the growth stage and weakest for firms in the introductory stage of the product life cycle.     

Environmental Respect: Ethics or Simply Business? A Study in the Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Context

In recent years there have been ever-growing concerns regarding environmental decline, causing some companies to focus on the implementation of environmentally friendly supply, production and distribution systems. Such concern may stem either from the set of beliefs and values of the company’s management or from certain pressure exerted by the market – consumers and institutions – in the belief that an environmentally respectful management policy will contribute to the transmission of a positive image of the company and its products. Sometimes, however, ethics and market rules are not enough to deal with this situation and specific laws must be considered. This is the case when companies base their activity on the ‹ethics of self-interest’ concentrating their efforts on projecting an adequate image – e.g. environmental respect – rather than fundamentally behaving in environmentally respectful ways. This article, taking as reference the SME context, discusses the reasons for implementing environmentally friendly systems. Both ethics and business seem to be relevant and, therefore, a certain balance between market and interventionism seems to be necessary.     

Embedding CSR Values: The Global Footwear Industry’s Evolving Governance Structure

Many transnational corporations and international organizations have embraced corporate social responsibility (CSR) to address criticisms of working and environmental conditions at subcontractors’ factories. While CSR ‹codes of conduct’ are easy to draft, supplier compliance has been elusive. Even third-party monitoring has proven an incomplete solution. This article proposes that an alteration in the supply chain’s governance, from an arms-length market model to a collaborative partnership, often will be necessary to effectuate CSR. The market model forces contractors to focus on price and delivery as they compete for the lead firm’s business, rendering CSR observance secondary, at best. A collaborative partnership where the lead firm gives select suppliers secure product orders and other benefits removes disincentives and adds incentives for CSR compliance. In time, the suppliers’ CSR habit should shift their business philosophy toward pursuing CSR as an end in itself, regardless of buyer incentives and monitoring. This article examines these hypotheses in the context of the athletic footwear sector with Nike, Inc. and its suppliers as the specific case study. The data collected and conclusions reached offer strategies for advancing CSR beyond the superficial and often ineffectual ‹code of conduct’ stage.     

Design and Communication of Ecological Content on Sustainable Packaging in Young Consumers’ Opinions

Many companies today have noticed the growing sensitivity of consumers to social problems, reflected by their interest in environmental concerns (e.g., the use of sustainable packaging materials that are eco-friendly and safe for consumers and the environment). Producers seek, often based on intuition rather than knowledge, eco-arguments for their packaging to affect the perceptions of buyers and to influence their behavior. Creating an effective design and content for environmental messaging on sustainable packaging may be a significant element in building a competitive advantage for both product and brand. Therefore, the main objective of this article will be to answer the following questions: What content do consumers expect for ecological messages on packaging? Which attributes of sustainable packaging have a positive impact on consumer behavior? In what ways are consumers’ purchasing intentions based on sustainable packaging? To answer these questions, the results of research conducted among Polish and French students will be presented.