跨国公司选址的影响因素及其对区域经济发展的启示

跨国公司的选址决策对于东道国的经济发展具有重要意义。然而,跨国公司在东道国的分布并不均匀,呈现出比较明显的地区差异。本文从区域条件、跨国公司的战略决策以及跨国公司和东道国之间的技术博弈三个方面研究跨国公司选址的影响因素,并就如何吸引跨国公司进入、融入全球价值链,促进区域经济发展提出了政策建议。     

摆脱代工企业创新困境的社会网络论分析——基于温州打火机产业的案例研究

文章利用社会网络理论,分析了代工生产的网络关系,揭示了在由跨国公司主导的外包生产网络中,跨国公司与代工企业之间是强关系、代工企业不占据结构洞,使代工企业陷入了自主创新的困境。在以温州打火机产业为例的研究中,文章提出了代工企业如果要实现自主创新必须发展弱关系,摆脱对跨国公司的技术与市场的依赖,构建自主创新的支持体系。     

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.     

Do Product and Consumer Characteristics Affect the Relationship Between Online Experience and Customer Satisfaction?

ABSTRACT

This study utilizes a survey to understand how relevant product and consumer characteristics affect the relationship between online experience and satisfaction. Results indicate that Web shoppers' satisfaction is strongly affected by a superior online experience if they have no prior experience with the purchased brand, they are purchasing a high priced product, and their general attitudes toward online shopping are not very favorable. Further, the relationship between online experience and satisfaction was found to be stronger for females as compared to males.     

Influencing MNC strategies for managing corruption and favouritism in Pacific Asia countries: a multiple-theory configurational perspective

ABSTRACT

The research gap addressed here concerns how to encourage multinational corporations (MNCs) to combat corruption and favouritism. This study’s rationale is that MNCs can have a highly influential role in supporting or opposing such practices globally. The study examines how MNCs might choose flexibly among alternative strategies but could be encouraged positively. Three illustrative strategies are described in detail using theoretical propositions: (1) anti-corruption reform; (2) ‘tightrope’ balancing; and (3) tolerance for corrupt practices. A proposed multiple-theory configurational perspective is consistent with secondary data and reported cases about domestic corruption and MNC propensity to bribe focused on Pacific Asia countries.     

EDITOR'S COMMENTS

ABSTRACT

The key to improving pricing methods lies in establishing a clear relationship between the price paid by customers and the value received. A company's understanding of how a decision in its pricing policy will affect the perceptions its potential consumers will have of these prices, is fundamental if it wishes to make sure that its offer is properly perceived. Thus, if companies identify the rules used by purchasers to price their products, they will be successful in getting the objective signal they send via their communication strategies to be perceived in the desired manner. This analysis shows that both monetary and non-monetary costs are considered by consumers when determining the final cost perception associated with the acquisition of a good, and that the understanding of the internal reference price is essential for determining the nominal price effect on the monetary component of total sacrifice.     

自由贸易区战略助推人民币区域化——基于CAFTA的实证研究

2008年全球金融危机的爆发使得以中国为代表的新兴经济体开始寻求本币国际化的进程。自由贸易区战略和人民币区域化之间有何关联?本文根据人民币的事实境外流通状况和发展趋势,选定CAFTA作为人民币区域化的辐射范围,分析人民币区域化的贸易总量和结构条件后认为:(一)人民币区域化的贸易总量条件已经具备,在贸易结构条件上则喜忧参半;(二)人民币区域化必须具备相应的贸易结算基础,否则人民币区域化将无法得到实体经济的有力支持;(三)自由贸易区内区域性贸易逆差在推动人民币区域化进程中有一定作用。最后提出运用自贸区战略的巧实力助推人民币区域化的政策建议。     

Tapping the power of local knowledge: A local-global interactive perspective

Existing theories of international business and strategy do not fully explain how local knowledge disadvantage faced by foreign investors can be mitigated. We conducted an in-depth qualitative study into four MNCs to investigate the micro-processes of how they generated value from their dispersed sources of local knowledge in China. The results suggest an interactive model: that MNCs employed management processes encompassing three strategically interconnected efforts—global knowledge penetration, local-global knowledge blending, and local-global knowledge integration. The model highlights the interplay between global and local knowledge and challenges extant research that solely focuses on the transfer of either home-based or local knowledge.     

Unbundling European operations: regional management and corporate flexibility in American and Japanese MNCS

Empirical research on the European operations of 19 American and Japanese multinational companies (MNCs) suggested, first, that the strategic importance of the region did not translate into an enhanced role for regional headquarters, and second, that American and Japanese MNCs are “unbundling” their European operations as a means of enhancing their flexibility. American MNCs preferred to carve up regional tasks for delegation to local subsidiaries, with coordination assured increasingly by “councils” bringing top European managers together. Japanese MNCs have not altered the formal organizational structure; but the recent internationalization of basic research labs in Europe has forced them to modify their previously monolithic approach to European subsidiaries.     

HRM in Western Subsidiaries in Russia and Poland

Abstract

This study analyzes the Human Resource Management (HRM) practices in joint ventures and wholly-owned subsidiaries of Western MNCs located in Russia and Poland. Different hypotheses are developed, testing whether or not MNCs are more likely to implement standardized practices in Poland and Russia. The effects on HRM practices of MNC equity share, non-financial resources provided by MNCs to the focal unit, and mode of establishment of the foreign unit are also investigated. Implications for future research and managers are discussed.     

Competitive Strategy,Environmental Characteristics and Performance in African Emerging Economies: Lessons from Firms in Ghana

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the impact of the implementation of competitive strategy on organizational performance in response to economic liberalization policies using survey data from organizations in Ghana. We also examine how the perceived intensity of industry competition and industry sector moderate the relationship between competitive strategy and organizational performance. The results show that the implementation of the competitive strategies of low-cost, differentiation, and integrated low-cost and differentiation were all positively related to performance (return on assets and return on sales). We also find that both industry competition and industry sector moderate the relationship between differentiation strategy and return on assets. Moreover, industry competition moderates the relationships between both low-cost and differentiation strategies and return on sales. The results indicate that implementing a clearly defined competitive strategy is beneficial to organizations experiencing significant changes in the environment due to economic liberalization. The findings also suggest that while low-cost strategy is more beneficial to organizations in a highly competitive industry, differentiation strategy is more beneficial to firms in lowly competitive industry. At the same time, organizations in the manufacturing sector benefit more than those in the service sector when they implement the differentiation strategy. Managerial implications are presented.     

From foreign investors to strategic insiders: Shifting parameters,prescriptions and paradigms for MNCs in China

Multinational corporations (MNCs) entering and operating in China have been significantly changing their dominant strategies over the past two decades to cope with China's shifting competitive and regulatory environments. The new strategies have resulted in a status shift such that MNCs are no longer merely “foreign investors”; they have become “strategic insiders” who view their large-scale China operations as key to their overall corporate success. To provide an overarching picture of this status shift, this article identifies and discusses shifting competitive parameters facing MNCs (from scant to strong competition, from niche to massive competition, from single- to multi-market competition and from structural similarity to multiplicity), as well as the shifting regulatory parameters they face (from entrance to operational intervention, from separation to convergence with domestic policies and from national control to regional regulation). This article also analyzes the shifting dominant strategies MNCs use to deal with changing environmental landscapes, including shifts from parent to national integration, from production relocation to value chain localization, from competence transfer to competence building, from competition to coopetition, from repetition to adaptive diversification and from alliance building to restructuring. This article concludes by discussing how the above strategic shifts provoke the extension and rethinking of extant MNC theories and what future issues merit particular attention.     

The configuration of employee retention practices in multinational corporations’ foreign subsidiaries

This paper contributes to turnover research by deriving a typology of retention practices and investigating their applicability in multinational corporations’ (MNCs) foreign subsidiaries in the light of home- and host-country effects. Linking institutional and strategic HRM perspectives, the paper then proposes a conceptual framework examining how MNCs can maximize their retention capacity. Specifically, MNCs need to align their transferable home-country retention practices with overall strategy and complement them with flexible context-specific practices to allow for adaptability across different subsidiaries. It is further argued that characteristics of the headquarters–subsidiary relationship will influence the relative importance of context-generalizable versus context-specific retention practices and that the relevant set of practices for each subsidiary then needs to be configured individually.     

MNCs,Technological Innovation and Regional Systems in the EU: Some Evidence in the Italian Case

The increasing appreciation of the role of multinational corporations (MNCs) in the generation of technology across national boundaries has been facilitated by the recent trend for MNCs to establish internal and external networks for innovation. The development of cross-border corporate integration and intra-border inter-company sectoral integration makes it increasingly important to examine where and how innovative activity by MNCs is internationally dispersed and regionally concentrated. By using patents granted to the largest industrial firms for innovation located abroad-arranged by the host region-we test the nature of the relationship between the foreign-owned and the indigenous company profiles of technological specialisation in the Italian regions. We argue the MNC networks for innovation in Europe conform to a geographical hierarchy of regional centres. Accordingly, the technological specialisation of foreign-owned affiliates in different regional locations depends upon the position of the region in the hierarchy, i.e. whether the regional system is at the top of the hierarchy (higher order location) or is a lower order regional centre.     

Internationalization of Japanese Multinational Corporations in Central and Eastern Europe

Abstract

The paper focuses on the internationalization activities of Japanese MNCs in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) analyzing data on national level considering Japan's modes of market entry in the CEE region and some of the countries in it. Major trends and the development of Japanese internationalization in CEE are presented. Individual mini case studies contribute to the analysis using the experience of several major Japanese MNCs that have invested in the region. The goal of the paper is to uncover the specifics of the internationalization process of Japanese corporations in the CEE region. Main characteristics of the penetration of Japanese MNCs in CEE are unveiled and discussed in the concluding part of the paper. The management implications and conclusions from the study are discussed further in the final part of the paper.     

Multinational Corporations and the Transforming Operational Environment in China

China and the multinational corporations (MNCs) have had a long period of close relationship. In locating operations in China, MNCs beneficially followed the principle of least‐cost location. However, China's economic and business environment has been undergoing a striking transformation. The Chinese economy is losing some of its beneficial emerging‐market traits. Many foreign business enterprises and MNCs have experienced deep erosion of profits. This article first focuses on the growing importance of China and the Chinese markets for foreign business firms and MNCs. The sheer size of the market naturally draws them in. Next, it dwells on the challenges that have evolved over the years and the budding new business environment, often referred to as “the new normal.” Many MNCs realize the need to adapt to the new operating environment in China. This article proposes a list of adaptive and coping measures for the foreign enterprises and MNCs. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Managing higher education brands with an emerging brand architecture: the role of shared values and competing brand identities

ABSTRACT

Corporate branding is a strategic issue for universities as the global higher education (HE) marketplace is becoming increasingly competitive and there is pressure to differentiate. Yet it is unclear how universities develop and manage brand strategies, and whether they draw upon any meaningful connections to the multiple stakeholders and sub-cultures engaged with a university’s brand. Using qualitative data gathered from an education faculty within an established UK university, this study found the faculty and university had competing brand identities and images. A strong faculty brand emerged co-created through the shared teacher related values of staff and external partners. This study contributes to the brand strategy literature by applying branding concepts to the under-researched HE context and proposing a new, more nuanced brand architecture model not yet reported in the branding literature which more accurately reflects the management of sub and corporate HE brands.     

Business-Government Partnership in Nigeria

ABSTRACT

This study critically examines the role of multinational corporations in the global competitiveness of Nigeria. The primary purpose is to make a modest contribution to the debate on Nigeria's competitiveness in the emerging global economy. This study recommends the redefinition of national development goals and reorientation of the focus of MNCs toward such goals. Future industrial policy will need to address the following areas: (1) Promoting competitiveness, especially improving technological capabilities in a market economy; (2) Shifting the incentive structure strongly towards export orientation; (3) Helping import-substituting industries to restructure and upgrade their technologies and skills; (4) Investing in infrastructure, education, training and technological support services; and (5) Promoting regional cooperation to enlarge markets.     

ASEAN between globalization and regionalization

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this article is to test the hypothesis that the ‘ASEAN way’ is different from other regional integration schemes, as measured by the relative importance of its de facto regionalization patterns, the importance of its ASEAN+ frameworks, and its globalization-regionalization nexus. A set of indicators using intra- and extra-regional flow data of various sorts are explored and used to compare the ASEAN integration experience with some benchmark cases worldwide. Four aspects are thereby considered: (1) globalization and economic openness, (2) trade liberalization, (3) regional production sharing, and (4) foreign investment promotion.     

Fashionable subjects and complicity resistance: power,subjectification, and bounded resistance in the context of plus-size consumers

ABSTRACT

The relationship between consumer governability and consumer resistance has received increasing attention in consumer research, especially with regard to consumers’ physical bodies. However, a deeper understanding of how consumers juxtapose different forms and strategies of governability with respect to which discourses they embody or resist is necessary. Through an analysis of various sources of data, including interviews, fashion blogs, an online retailer’s website, and a fashion magazine, we explore the nuances between processes of subjectification and resistance in the fashion field by considering the multiple powers that act on overweight female consumers’ bodies. We demonstrate the complicated process by which these vulnerable consumers attempt to establish themselves as fashionable subjects as they move between adherence to expectations (biopower and subjectification) and resistance when faced with the impossibility of subjectification in a creative-agentic manner. Finally, we propose the idea of complicit resistance. This resistance only partially confronts the strategies of biopower in the process of subjectification because it is limited by a threshold imposed by biopower.