The Paradox of Openness: How Product and Patenting Experience Affect R&D Sourcing in China?

External R&D sourcing may help firms compete in an environment characterized by rapid technological changes. Yet, prior studies have produced conflicting findings on how a firm's technological experience affects the extent to which the firm engages in external R&D sourcing. Although many highlight that firms with extensive technological experience are equipped with more technological knowledge, collaborative skills, and absorptive capacity, encouraging greater levels of external R&D, others suggest the opposite due to potential exchange hazards and partnership conflicts. Adopting an external partner's perspective, the current study reconsiders this “paradox of openness” by analyzing how a focal firm's product experience and patenting experience affect an external partner's tendency to provide external R&D services to the focal firm. Specifically, this study explore how a focal firm's knowledge protectiveness and tacitness embedded in its product and patenting experience influences the external partners' motivation for knowledge transfer. This study predicts that a firm's product experience increases the focal firm's external R&D sourcing because it provides high levels of knowledge tacitness and external openness and can encourage external partners to share and exchange knowledge with the focal firm. In contrast, a firm's patenting experience decreases the focal firm's external R&D sourcing because it denotes knowledge explicitness and protectiveness and may discourage external partners to share and exchange knowledge with the focal firm. This study further predicts that patenting experience has a negative moderating effect on the relationship between product experience and external R&D sourcing. Using a data set of 575 high‐tech firms in China, this study finds support for our predictions. Our findings contribute to the growing literature on the knowledge‐based view and technology entrepreneurship in emerging markets.     

“Excellent” systems analysis: The Singapore context

Within the broad context of Singapore's IT2000 Project, an exploratory research project was conducted as part of an on-going program to identify the perceptions of what constitutes the qualities of an excellent systems analyst. A grounded theory approach (theory building) was adopted using Kelly's RepGrid technique to conduct interviews with stakeholders in the systems analyst's performance in a large organization based in Singapore. In reviewing the constructs which emerged from the stakeholder interviews, 12 universal Themes were identified, such as Attitude, Knowledge, Communicate, including a number of sub-Themes. Each stakeholder group had its own interpretation of the relative importance of each Theme. These results have implications for the selection, training and development of systems analysts. Suggestions are made for further research to compare the cross-cultural perceptions of excellent systems analysts, as well as the testing of specific hypotheses derived from the results of this research project.Dr M. Gordon Hunter is with the Faculty of Management, The University of Lethbridge, 4401 University Drive, Lethbridge, Alberta, T1K 3M4 CANADA, tel: (403) 329-2672; fax: (403) 329-2038; e-mail: HUNTMG@CETUS.MNGT.ULETH.CA. Dr John Beck is with the Division of Human Resource and Quality Management, School of Accountancy and Business, Nanyang Technological University, Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 2263.     

“Vertical coopetition”: The key account perspective

Why do key accounts combine opposing types of relationship with their suppliers? The author has chosen to term this new hybrid form of supplier relationship management, which combines cooperation and price-competitive transactions and reflects the tension between value creation and value appropriation, “vertical coopetition.” She investigates the use of this concept in the context of an in-depth qualitative study, involving, firstly, an exploratory field study and, secondly, four case studies involving leading industrial MNCs. The results indicate that “vertical coopetition” occurs in two forms: when the price-competitive approach is predominant but some cooperation features are still to be found; and when cooperation is predominant, but appeals to competition are still made. Mutually opposed aspects of each form are linked and explained by three pivotal mechanisms, which the author calls, “strengthening”, “correction” and “commuting”. Finally, the study reveals that, increasingly, the key account's brands or Business Unit value¹ are explanatory forces of “vertical coopetition”.     

“Data localization”: The internet in the balance

There is a steady global trend towards “Data Localization,” laws by which data is required to be maintained and processed within the geographic boundaries of its state of origin. This development has raised concerns about its possible adverse impacts on emerging data-intensive technologies such as Cloud services/E-commerce, Big Data, Artificial Intelligence and the Internet of Things (collectively, the Embedded Infosphere). The inability to reach an international agreement on rules for cross-border data flows may have significant adverse consequences for all future users of the Internet.The basis of Data Localization is grounded in two distinct but inter-related policy models: Data Sovereignty and Trans-Border Data Flows. These two concepts have different origins. “Data Sovereignty” is derived from the historic power of a state of absolute and exclusive control within its geographic borders. Policies behind TBDFs arose in Europe following World War II, primarily motivated by Nazi use of early proto-computers to help round up Jews and others. As they have evolved, TBDF policies have been directed primarily at protecting personal data and privacy.This article first examines the issues of: 1) “Information Sovereignty” and 2) TBDFs. It then describes the arguments for and against “Data Localization,” offers some examples of strong localization policies (Russia, China), and summarizes contesting policy proposals. It then contextualizes TBDF with issues of human rights (free flow of information) and privacy.While the utility of an international agreement on TBDFs is clear, the differences in approaches are tenacious. For the free-market developed world (e.g, EU, OECD), the path forward seems to lead through policy convergence to compatible rules, with differentiated levels of data protection and accountability. It is far from clear whether these rules will address, in a mandatory way, issues of the “free flow” of information in the human rights sense. At the same time, there are countries (e.g., BRICS), representing a majority of the world's population, in which political and cultural resistance will produce stringent Cyber Sovereignty and Data Localization policies with few if any human rights components.The article concludes that the more the Internet is “localized”, the more attenuated its benefits will become. The negative consequences of Data Localization will become increasingly obvious as new, data-intensive technologies become ubiquitous, creating a condition of “Data Dependence”. It is projected that in the future the nations with the least amount of Data Localization and the most open flow of information will be the most successful in benefiting from new data-intensive embedded, networked technologies. This will most likely be characterized by values adopted as policies and practices in the EU.     

Building innovative organizations in China: The “execution+” organization

This paper explores how to build innovative organizations in China. Using grounded inductive theory building with ten case studies of commercial organizations in China’s information and communication technology (ICT) industries, we find that because China is entrenched in the paradigm of execution and its two-tier talent structure lacks a competent pool of middle-level talent, it calls for a new organizational form: “execution+.” The key to building “execution+” organization lies in building a competent middle tier by taking advantage of apprenticeship type of training. Our findings have implications for theories of organization design and organizational learning.     

The Consequences of “Consideration Payments”: Lessons from Radio Payola

The prohibition of radio payola in 1960 gives us an opportunity to examine the effect that “consideration payments” had on the record labels that used them and on overall product variety. Using a historical Billboard chart data, we find that the prohibition of payola reduced musical variety and overall record sales, but may have helped increase access for smaller record labels. These findings support the theory that payola payments, which may impose a non-trivial financial burden on the record label, serve to reduce the radio station’s risk.     

The deterrence effect of Guanxi on opportunism: The moderating effects of “three institutional pillars”

Marketing channel members are subject to opportunism, and guanxi (i.e., interpersonal ties) is a useful mechanism to deter it. This article argues that the effect of guanxi on opportunism depends on the institutional environments in which firms are embedded in. Drawing on institutional theory and guanxi literature, we investigated the effects of the “Three pillars” of institutional environments. Specifically, we examined whether legal effectiveness, Confucianism, and organizational culture incongruence moderate the impact of guanxi on exchange partners' opportunism. We collected survey data from both sales managers and salespersons in 268 manufacturing firms and merged the dataset with secondary data that measure institutional factors. The results show that guanxi deters opportunism more effectively when legal effectiveness is high, where Confucianism is more prominent, and when exchange firms' organizational cultures are more incongruent. This study provides implications for marketing channel members on how to use personal ties under different institutional conditions.     

Real Options Analysis for “Green Trading”: The Case of Greenhouse Gases

To address the issue of reducing emissions of greenhouse gases, organizations are involved with emergent markets for trading emission permits. Investment in equipment that reduces emissions may generate emission credits for sale in the market. This article applies real options analysis to actual case study information from British Petroleum-Amoco of a particular project that would generate emissions credits. We conclude that unless permits have a faster price rise than is generally anticipated, certain projects are not economically feasible. The policy implication is that planners may need to set more stringent regulations to bring about their desired result. Additionally, real options analysis in this market based regulatory policy is an especially important tool for the energy industry, which is disproportionately impacted by greenhouse gases policies.     

The Evolution of “Competition”: Lessons for 21st Century Telecommunications Policy

For over a century, assessments of competition or the lack thereof have been central to how public policy treats the telecommunications industry. This centrality continues today. Yet, numerous foundational questions about this concept persist. In this paper, we chronicle how the definition of “competition” has evolved in economics and has been applied in the communications arena. The academic literature on competition hits an important inflection point in the mid-20th century with the development of “workable competition”: a term that is equated to “effective competition.” We find that while the concept of “effective competition” is central to policy formation at the FCC, the Commission’s own applications of “effective competition” are inconsistent. Given the centrality of this concept, and its inconsistent applications to date, we draw upon the seminal contributions to the development of the notion of “effective competition” to offer a modern definition suitable for application in 21st century communications markets.     

The Wi-Fi “congestion crisis”: Regulatory criteria for assessing spectrum congestion claims

“Wi-Fi congestion is a very real and growing problem.” So said then-Chairman of the FCC Genachowski in a recent proceeding, and this sentiment is widely heard. However, we are aware of very few engineering studies that have a bearing on this matter, and their conclusions are equivocal. Beyond this, evidence for “congestion problems” in the 2.4 GHz ISM band is anecdotal at best.While some users no doubt sometimes have service difficulties they ascribe to congestion, that is not sufficient to prove that there is a policy problem. In order to provide a basis for policy decisions, we offer an analysis of congestion metrics and results in the engineering literature. We conclude that there is little consensus on how to measure congestion, and that network metrics are difficult to correlate with user experience.We therefore propose a list of user experience-oriented service impairment criteria that, if met, would demonstrate that congestion exists to a degree that justifies regulatory intervention: For more than one of the key scenarios that are supported by an operator or technology there is a significant increase in the percentage of users who cannot complete a valuable task on a persistent, ubiquitous basis in spite of the use of state-of-the-art engineering/deployment best practices, and users׳ willingness to pay the market rate for the best available service level.Based on our assessment of public reports and experimental data, we conclude that there is currently no evidence for pervasive Wi-Fi congestion. We do not claim that the absence of evidence of congestion amounts to evidence for the absence of congestion. However, we do question the argument that congestion occurring somewhere, sometimes is a justification for regulatory intervention.     

Traditional culture echoes? The impact of clan culture upon partner surname sharing: Evidence from Chinese supply chains

In many emerging countries, firms face formal institutional voids that raise both the cost and the level of difficulty of business operations. In this study, we examine a unique culture-rooted mechanism that may address those voids, and this comes in the form of supply chain partner surname sharing based on the legacy of clan identification. Using a unique Chinese dataset that was manually collected and merged from multiple sources, we find that firms registered in the region with a stronger clan culture are more likely to cooperate with supply chain partners with the same surname. This positive effect of clan culture is negatively moderated further by the level of subnational marketization. Therefore, we shed new light on the supply chain-level implications of clan culture, an Asian cultural-specific topic that has received little attention in marketing and supply chain literature.     

Display rule perceptions and job performance in a Chinese retail firm: The moderating role of employees’ affect at work

This study investigates the relationship between emotional display rule perceptions and job performance. Building on theories of emotional labor and ego-depletion, we cast employees’ positive and negative affective states at work as crucial moderators. Results obtained in a sample of 245 frontline service employees and their 63 immediate supervisors from a retail firm in China demonstrate that display rule perceptions were positively related with task and contextual performance among employees experiencing little positive affective states at work, but not among employees experiencing highly positive affect. Moreover, display rule perceptions were positively associated with one aspect of contextual performance (voluntary learning) among employees with little negative affect, whereas highly negative affect buffered this linkage. Taken together, this study highlights performance consequences of employees’ display rule perceptions and uncovers key boundary conditions for these relationships.     

The private benefits of control in Chinese listed firms: Do cash flow rights always reduce controlling shareholders’ tunneling?

This study measures the size of private benefits of control (PBC) and explores the impact of ownership structure and board independence on controlling shareholders?? tunneling. Using data of Chinese listed companies between 2003 and 2006, we find that the average size of PBC, as measured by the price premium of block share transactions, is approximately 10.66% in Chinese listed companies. Also, firms with more independent directors on the board and firms with multiple large shareholders have a smaller size of PBC. Therefore, they experience a lower level of expropriation of minority investors by controlling shareholders. We particularly find evidence of a nonlinear U-shaped relationship between controlling shareholders?? PBC and their cash flow rights. On the left half of the nonlinear U-shaped curve, consistent with the interest-alignment effect of increased ownership concentration, increased cash flow rights appear to be effective in reducing controlling shareholders?? tunneling. However, on the right half, increased cash flow rights would exacerbate controlling shareholders?? expropriation of minority investors, which is the entrenchment effect of increased ownership concentration.     

比亚迪:“攻”为“守”

在战略上进行调整之后的比亚迪,在战术选择上,却依然选择了进攻。进攻即为最好的防守,这就是比亚迪的生存之道。这样来看,战术上的降价行为与其宣布的战略调整并不矛盾。     

石墨烯:“放长线”才能“钓大鱼”

<正>有一种新材料,能开发出一种新的电池,可把数小时的充电时间压缩至短短一分钟。这种新材料就是石墨烯。石墨烯,是从石墨材料中剥离出来、由碳原子组成的只有一层原子厚度的二维晶体。作为目前发现的最薄、强度最大、导电导热性能最强的一种新型纳米材     

国际化:“蜂蜜”还是“苦果”

近年来,越来越多的施工企业将目光投向国外,试图通过走出国门开拓国际建筑市场,谋求国际化发展。中国建筑企业为什么要进行国际化?大型国际工程承包企业因何能经久不衰?中国企业差距何在?如何转型为成功的国际工程企业?