Willingness to work for multinational enterprises from emerging countries: The case of Chinese multinational enterprises in the Netherlands

How do perceptions of country-of-origin image (COI) relate to willingness of Western people to work for subsidiaries in advanced countries of multinational enterprises from emerging countries (EMNEs)? We seek to shed light on this question by exploring six hypotheses based on environment-processing metatheory. Applying a PLS-SEM analysis of online survey data from the Netherlands, we find that the COI and familiarity with the EMNE’s home country are positively associated with willingness to work. Additionally, we reveal a few mediating effects indicating that familiarity and individual difference are indirectly related to willingness to work. This study contributes to our understanding of the inability of EMNEs to attract talent in the Western world by adding a macro perspective to the human resource management literature. Furthermore, we extend environment-processing metatheory by expanding the focus from the perceived internal context (corporate information) to the perceived external environment (country of origin), as well as to the antecedents (familiarity and individual differences) of the perceived environment.     

Marketing aspects of environmental practices of multinational enterprises in host countries: A Brazilian case study

This article investigates both the marketing and the production activities of a multinational enterprise (MNE) operating in the Brazilian chemical industry. The case chosen illustrates how the MNE has managed to adapt or to upgrade some of its main policies, programs, production activities, and products in conformity with both its long-term strategic positioning and the host country's environmental regulatory policy. The company established two effective environmental programs that deserve mention. One of the programs has been set up to generate receipts through the provision of environmental services for a price. The other one pursued systematic procedures to better serve clients through customized applications of waste reduction practices. The latter reveals how proactive companies may profit from effectively envisaging the whole product cycle along their value chain. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Impact of EU agricultural policy on developing countries: A Uganda case study

Despite substantial reforms, the European Union (EU)'s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is still criticised for its detrimental effects on developing countries. This paper provides updated evidence on the impact of the CAP on one developing country, Uganda. It goes beyond estimating macrolevel economic effects by analysing the impacts on poverty. The policy simulation results show that eliminating EU agricultural support would have marginal but nonetheless positive impacts on the Ugandan economy and its poverty indicators. From the perspective of the EU's commitment to policy coherence for development, this supports the view that further reducing EU agricultural support would be positive for development.     

State enterprises in developing countries

The role of state-owned enterprises in the development process in the Third World is the subject of serious controversy. This article attempts to test empirically whether there is a relationship between the importance of public production in developing countries and their overall economic performance.     

Financial policy in developing countries

The present financial policies of the developing countries are hardly likely to create favourable conditions for economic growth. A change can only be brought about if the financing of development projects and the imports of consumer goods can be successfully integrated in an overall plan for economic growth and the generation of new sources of revenue for the state.     

Trade policy in developing countries

Development institutions are currently revising their traditional positions on the question of adequate trade policies for developing countries. Against this background the following article takes stock of the degree to which developing countries have become integrated into the world economy and considers the opportunities and risks which the integration process presents. Problems confronting national policies in less successful developing countries are then outlined which make further, efficient integration of these countries into the world economy more difficult. Finally, policies are identified which could ease further integration.     

Agricultural policy in developing countries

Development failures are less the result of “natural” short-comings, but are caused instead by false conceptions and by the misapplication of experience from highly-developed economic systems to countries in the initial development stage. The following article points out the pit-falls and discusses some alternative strategies.     

EC policy and developing countries

The EC’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) tends to restrict imports of farm produce to that part of demand which is not met by domestic production. The author analyses nature and extent of the problems arising therefrom for the LDCs that are heavily dependent on exports of agricultural goods.     

Proactive management of political risk and corporate performance: The case of Spanish multinational enterprises

The present study analyzes the relationship between the political risk assumed by Spanish multinational enterprises in their internationalization strategies and their performance over a five-year period, from 2000 to 2005. Significant evidence is obtained of a positive and simultaneous relationship between political risk and performance through the use of simultaneous equations applied to a sample of 164 firms. These results are consistent with the premises of the Prospect Theory and with the traditional financial and economic theory grounded in risk aversion. They also explain the proactive use of political risk, to the extent that greater risk results in greater performance, which in turn contributes the amount of resources that are needed to undertake investments in countries with greater risk.     

The conduct of international enterprises in developing countries

Do multinational enterprises act in developing countries as a motive force for progress or do they perpetuate colonialism by different means? The fierce controversy on this question still continues, fuelled not only by basic ideological differences but by dearth of empirical evidence. Prof. Pausenberger is helping to overcome the lack of knowledge.     

Monetary policy in developing countries: lessons from Kenya

We estimate and then simulate a model of Kenyan economic development from 1965 to 1997 with two objectives in mind. The first is to demonstrate the degree of volatility of cyclical shocks that developing countries experience and to calculate the domestic nominal adjustments required by these shocks under both irrevocably fixed and free exchange rates.A comparison of these counterfactual nominal adjustments identifies the short-run implications for an economy of the choice of exchange rate regime. The second objective is to provide an estimate of the consequences for the economic development of Kenya of the lack of a coherent monetary order (excessive domestic credit expansion and overvalued exchange rate) throughout most of the period since 1965.A neoclassical convergence growth model based on Barro and Sala-i-Martin (1992) is employed and calibrated to represent the long-run growth path of real GDP in Kenya. A short-run four-sector CGE model is constructed that allows for cyclical movements of real GDP about the convergence growth path. The cyclical model focuses on the adjustment of the relative price of non-traded goods that is required to ensure short-run equilibrium in the non-traded goods sector. Given that terms of trade shocks dominated the macro environment of Kenya over the sample period, we find that a free exchange rate regime would have insulated the economy to a greater degree than an irrevocably fixed regime. In the growth decomposition exercise, we estimate that the two largest (and negative) influences on Kenyan economic growth were the decline in the external terms of trade from 100 in 1965 to an average of 79.5 over the 32-year time period, and the overvalued Kenyan shilling represented by a premium on the parallel market for foreign exchange. Overall, we estimate that the overvalued exchange rate reduced economic growth by an average of 0.47 per cent per annum over the 32 years.     

Adjustment policy and interest groups in developing countries

Adjustment programmes promoted by the IMF and the World Bank have met with mixed success in recent years. What part has the interaction of interest groups in the countries concerned played in this connection? What lessons are to be learnt for future adjustment programmes?     

Environmental policy and interest groups in developing countries

As the debate over the structural adjustment policies of the 1980s showed, the success of government policies in developing countries is also partly determined by the activities of a variety of interest groups. The same is also likely to apply to environmental policy. This article looks into the ways in which the efficiency of environmental policy measures is influenced by the activities of such interest groups.     

Eco-labelling and environmental policy efforts in developing countries

Eco-labelling has become an increasingly popular instrument in recent years. Among the new developments which have been called for are that they should also be used as a means of encouraging developing countries to apply stricter environment policies. The following article investigates whether applying environmental seals of approval to the export products of developing countries is an efficient instrument for the purpose.     

Factors in the effective transfer of knowledge from multinational enterprises to their foreign subsidiaries: a Mozambican case study

The purpose of this article is to better understand the role of internal stakeholders in subsidiaries of multinational companies (MNCs) in order to offer potential insights into the cross‐border transfer of knowledge from those companies’ headquarters to their subsidiaries. The focus is upon subsidiaries in developing countries, here Mozambique. More specifically, the article is concerned with identifying factors that influence the learning of internal stakeholders and noting practices which seem associated with a high level of absorptive capacity and performance of subsidiaries. The starting point is evidence of ineffective transfer of knowledge by MNCs to their subsidiaries in developing countries, with consequent sub‐standard performance. The research reported involves four case studies of Portuguese companies operating in Mozambique and draws on data from interviews with senior and middle managers in the firms’ Mozambican subsidiaries. The results obtained suggest that successful knowledge transfer to overseas subsidiaries is found under the following conditions. First, the parent company knows the local context and provides a flow of relevant information. Second, application of knowledge locally is done flexibly to suit local circumstances. Next, a participatory approach is used so that local staff can see why the knowledge conveyed is necessary. Fourth, explanation and demonstration are key techniques, with major roles for on‐the‐job training, continuous improvement and training at headquarters. Finally, issues arising from local culture may need to be addressed.     

The drugs economy and anti-drug policy in developing countries

The drugs economy has now developed into a major factor in many developing countries. What effects on the economies of the countries concerned do drugs production and the drugs trade have? How should the prospects of success for substitution policies be judged? What strategy to curb the demand for drugs in the industrial countries might carry the promise of success?     

Environmental protection and economic policy decisions in developing countries

In view of the extent of environmental destruction in the Third World, it is necessary to make urgent use of all the instruments available in order to protect the environment and conserve natural resources. However, the priorities both of the people there and of their governments are more often aimed at economic growth than environmental protection, due to the low standards of living prevailing in these countries. How can this conflict of interests, which will be one of the main issues being discussed at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in June 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, be resolved?     

The impact of agricultural price policy in developing countries

Agricultural price policies are under closer review now in many developing countries. There is a growing tendency to rely more on market forces. What impact have agricultural price policies had on the performance of the agricultural sector in developing countries until now?     

Foreign direct investments in developing countries: The openness hypothesis and policy implications

A cross-sectional time series model was estimated to explain the influence of the openness of an economy and political instability on gross inflow of foreign direct investments into developing countries. Results indicate positive relation between the openness of developing economies and the inflow of foreign direct investments and negative relation between political instability and the inflow of foreign direct investments. Research findings and policy implications are presented.