Domestic Activity and Knowledge Development in the Internationalization Process of Firms

This paper is based on behavioral theory on internationalization, examining the effect of firms operations in the domestic market on experiential knowledge development in the internationalization of the firm. Five hypotheses are developed on the effects of business operations in the domestic market on: internationalization knowledge, business knowledge and institutional knowledge. The LISREL analysis of 206 firms shows that domestic operations effect the accumulation of experiential knowledge in internationalizing firms. We found that it is harder for a firm with long domestic experience to change their mental models and processes in the internationalization process.     

Group Action in the Baltic States

The article is based on a study which aimed at examining the existence and use of group actions in consumer issues in the Baltic states. It was part of a larger research project in which the same questions were studied in all Central and Eastern European countries. Besides group actions in courts, administrative group actions were also studied.A starting point for the study was an overview of substantive consumer protection legislation in the Baltic states. In spite of the fact that there has been a rapid development in this field during recent years, the main finding was that many substantive law elements of consumers' collective interests, which in the EU Member States are often protected by different kinds of group actions, are as yet not regulated at all in the Baltic states or not regulated in a sufficiently detailed way in the Baltic states.The study showed that several kinds of group action exist in these countries. Firstly, there are administrative group actions for injunction. They are applied mainly in cases concerning product information, product safety, and unfair competition. Secondly, a group action by a consumer organisation for injunction in a court is, in principle, possible in Estonia and Lithuania, but not in Latvia. So far, no case law exists, however. A genuine group action for compensation is not possible in the Baltic countries, but a consumer organization may represent an individual consumer or a specified group of consumers in a court and may claim compensation on their behalf. The study showed that administrative group actions are a functioning part of the present consumer protection system in these countries, whereas court actions so far exist only on paper. It also showed that in the Baltic states, procedural means are in some matters better developed than substantive consumer law, whereas in many western countries, the exact opposite is the case. The article concludes with some recommendations as to how the Baltic states could develop their consumer protection legislation.     

Management Education Reforms in the Baltic States

No abstract available for this article.     

The Role of Language in the Communication Process Between Business and Government: Evidence from Russian Firms

Abstract

The paper investigates how language facilitates communication process between government and business. We use Russian context to show barriers and challenges of using language in official communication between governmental authorities and Russian companies. In our work, we demonstrate how language may produce employee’s misunderstanding and discuss typical sources of ineffective usage of language. The results indicate that problematic issues of both linguistic and non-linguistic nature can lead to serious implications for successful communication between government and business in Russia. We found that documentations’ complexity, which is perceived as such due to a complicated subject area they belong to (legal, tax, etc.) and language insufficiency applied are most likely to raise multiple problems related to government’s communication with business.     

Technical Progress and Labour Demand in Swedish Manufacturing Firms

Controlling firms’ sales in the labour demand model, this paper investigates effects of trade and R&D via technical progress on labour demand in a dynamic framework, based on a panel of Swedish manufacturing firms for 1990s. The main results of this study indicate that employment elasticities with respect to different characteristics of firms (wages, total sales, exports and R&D efforts) and industrial import penetration could vary across respective skilled sectors. There is some indication to that import penetration from fourteen ‘old members’ of European Union could induce capital-saving technical progress and result in the rise in demand for labour for firms in medium-low skilled sector, whilst those from the ten ‘new members’ of European Union could induce x-efficiency and labour-saving technical progress for firms in low-skilled sector. Furthermore, the effects of R&D intensity on demand for labour are positive and significant for firms in medium-high-skilled and high-skilled sectors.

Some Aspects of Economic Reform in the Baltic States

No abstract available for this article.     

Trust and Co-operation in Business Relationship Development: Exploring the Influence of National Values

This paper makes an initial exploration of whether and to what extent different national values may affect the development of business relationships between individuals in different countries, by specifically examining the development of trust and co-operation between people. It first identifies key factors that may determine the nature and effect of trust in business relationships. Trust based on calculus, knowledge, and identification are distinguished. Inhibitions to co-operation are also identified, which include the perceptions of economic value, of social returns, of risk, and of competence of the potential co-operating parties. A model of trust formation and its impact on co-operation enabling detailed interpretation of empirical data is presented.

Notions of national values developed in previous research are outlined, and a set of formal tabulated propositions regarding how these may be expected to influence different aspects of trust formation in different European countries is developed. The relevance and applicability in understanding different approaches to business development in different countries is then explored. The trust relationships of three matched case companies, one each from France, Holland and the United Kingdom are examined in terms of the propositions detailed, by means of verbal protocol analysis. Marked differences were found between the three individual business leaders, and these largely matched the theoretical propositions generated. Different types of trust relationships were sought and required by the individuals examined, and they each needed different co-operation criteria to be addressed before they would co-operate.

This study is only exploratory, and stereotypes need to be avoided, but more concrete propositions can be suggested as to why and how national values influence business to business relationships. National values appear to influence the relative importance placed by individuals in the types of trust they require to co-operate with others, and the criteria they implicitly employ in deciding whether to co-operate or not.     

瑞典国有企业的“可持续发展商业”模式——瑞典政府作为国有企业的所有者,如何将55家国有企业的公司治理与可持续性相融合,以保持企业的长期价值

亲爱的《WTO经济导刊》读者:中国和瑞典在可持续发展商业和企业社会责任(CSR)领域合作历史悠久、成果显著。两国广泛而深入的合作不仅包括未来商业领袖培训管理项目,还包括两国人士的频繁交流互访。两国还通过瑞典驻华大使馆企业社会责任中心建立起政策对话。瑞典与中国商务部、国资委及其他行业协会展开了紧密、持久而卓有成效的合作,瑞典政府对此给予了高度评价。去年秋天,我在布鲁塞尔进行了一场有关可持续发展商业的演讲。演讲结束后,《WTO经济导刊》请我就瑞典政府如何将可持续发展议题融入到国有企业的公司治理写一篇文章。从瑞典和欧洲的视角来看,瑞典政府和瑞典纳税人共同扮演着瑞典公司"所有者"的角色。目前,瑞典国内共有55家国有企业,预估总市值高达670亿欧元。这意味着,每一位瑞典公民可"均分"到约7000欧     

Business Group Affiliation and Corporate Sustainability Strategies of Firms: An Investigation of Firms in India

In spite of an overwhelming importance of business groups (BG) in the economic development of many countries, systematic inquiry on how the BGs and their affiliated firms approach and contribute to shared value creation and sustainable development is rare. In this paper we address this research gap by investigating two related questions—do BG-affiliated firms differ from non-BG firms in their corporate sustainability strategy (CSS) and how does BG affiliation influence the relationship between stock of fungible resources and CSS of firms? Drawing from the BG literature we theorize that BG-affiliated firms tend to adopt of both environmental and social sustainability strategies more than non-BG firms. We also argue that although according to resource-based view, the stock of fungible resources of firms positively influences CSS, BG affiliation negatively moderates the relationship between stock of fungible resources and CSS of firms. Stock of fungible resources matters less for BG-affiliated firms in undertaking CSS as they have access to resources of the BG network. We test our theoretical predictions using a proprietary data set of 163 Indian publicly listed firms, out of which 76 are BG-affiliated firms belonging to 74 BGs. The data for corporate environmental and social sustainability strategies have been obtained by administering a survey instrument among the top level executives of the participating firms. We find support for our theoretical predictions that signify that BGs and their affiliates make important contributions to shared value creation and sustainable development in emerging economies like India.     

The Business Platform: Developing an Instrument to Gauge and to Assist the Development of Young Firms

The research presented here addresses the following problems we perceive in research on the development of young firms. First, we feel there is a lack of holistic yet quantifiable and generalizable ways in which to assess the state of newly started firms. Quantitative research typically relies on additive models that are unable to explain more than half of the outcome variance at the most. Holistic approaches tend to be qualitative and therefore have unknown generalizability. Second, we feel there is a lack of action–oriented assessment models that are firmly anchored in research. Research models typically take a passive prediction position and often build on relationships that give little hands–on advice to managers. Numerous practical tools for assessing and developing firms during their early development can be found in how–to literature, but these typically are not anchored in systematic research and therefore have unknown validity. Hence, what we set out to do in the research presented in this article is to develop a quantifiable, holistic, and research–based instrument for assessing and assisting the development of young firms.     

宁波游憩商业区系统研究探析

本文通过对宁波游憩商业区的实证研究,总结出宁波所呈现出来的由三江口这一单核结构向海曙、江东、江北三大区并存的多核结构转变的动态发展图景,进而明确指出宁波已基本形成了"成长三角"型游憩商业区系统(SRBD)。在成长三角理论和旅游地生命周期理论的指导下,本文还从整体和分区两方面入手对宁波游憩商业区系统的构建策略进行了初步的探讨。     

中美科技企业孵化器发展比较及启示

为保证我国科技企业孵化器的可持续发展,在投资主体上应从单一的政府投资模式逐渐转向多元化的发展模式,引导大学科研机构、大企业、民间机构以及国外资本共同参与;建立项目筛选机制,严把企业入驻关,提高孵化质量;建立一支高素质的管理队伍,提升服务水平,充实服务内容,更好地发挥孵化器的作用;建立健全利益激励机制,提高孵化项目的成功率.     

Strategic and Business Planning Practices of Fast Growth Family Firms

Fast-growth family firms were surveyed about their business and strategic planning practices. Of the 65 fast-growth family firms surveyed, the majority prepare written formal plans. The business plans are in sufficient detail to enable the business to tie planning to actual performance and to adjust management compensation accordingly. The majority of the firms regularly share information with employees regarding comparisons between actual company performance results and goals or planned performance. Further, the majority of the firms describe their business strategy as a high quality producer strategy rather than as a low-cost or time-based strategy. Further, when bringing new products to market, these fast-growth family firms adopt a first mover or early follower strategy. Implications of these findings for growth-oriented family firms are presented.     

The Influence of Selected Factors on the Perceptions of Managers of Small Business Firms Regarding Legal Firms

Abstract

The South African service provider is faced with an increasingly turbulent and complex competitive environment (Griffith & Rust, 1997:109-116). Factors that impact specifically on the environment of service firms (such as the providers of legal services) include the growing importance of consumerism and a drastic increase in competition (Harrel & Fors, 1992:299-306).

The latter factor has a number of causes, amongst others, a stagnating economy (Griffith & Rust, 1997:109-116). A factor that impacts directly on the growing competition amongst providers of legal services is the increase in law graduates and commensurate increase in qualified attorneys and advocates entering the market. Figures supplied by the Law Society of the Cape of Good Hope and the Law Society of the Transvaal indicate an increase in excess of 50% in the number of practising attorneys in both the former provinces of the Cape and Transvaal between the years 1990 and 1997.

This article presents an exploratory study establishing the relative value attached by small business in South Africa to certain factors, inter alia advertising and location, pertaining to firms providing legal services. A better understanding of the importance of these factors will assist legal firms to improve service delivery thereby improving profitability.