The entry‐mode decision of Chinese outward FDI: Firm resources,industry conditions,and institutional forces

How do Chinese firms make their entry‐mode decision for their outward investments? Based on the three theoretical perspectives that balance the “strategy tripod,” our study conducted empirical tests using survey data collected from outward‐investing Chinese firms. We found that the cost advantage of the investing firm and learning opportunities in the host industry have positive effects on the likelihood of a Chinese firm opting for wholly owned subsidiary against joint‐venture entry mode, while the market attractiveness of the host industry, host‐country restrictions, cultural barriers, and cognitive pressures have negative effects. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Service Sector Restrictiveness and Economic Performance: An Estimation for the MENA Region

This article aims to assess barriers to service provision in the banking and telecom sectors of four Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries, and the impact of these barriers on firm performance. Our methodology involves the computation of aggregate and modal trade restrictiveness indices (TRIs) by sector, and utilisation of these TRIs as regressors of firms’ economic performance. Our analysis shows that significant regulatory reforms have taken place in the service sectors over the last decade in the MENA region, but that a broad range of restrictions still remain. The most significant change in these service sectors has been the lifting or softening of constraints on foreign equity participation. These regulatory reforms, however, have had varying degrees of impact on market structure depending on the country, the sector and the mode. Moreover, service restrictions have had an impact on economic performance in the three studied sectors. While a rent‐creating effect seems to dominate restrictions on banking and fixed telecom sectors, a cost‐inefficiency effect seems to dominate the mobile telecom sector. Finally, we find evidence of interactions between modal restrictions for banking services. Our results suggest a complementarity between Modes 3 and 1, as well as a substitution effect between Modes 3 and 4 in the banking sector.     

Medicaid, State Finances, and the Bottom Line for Businesses

Current Medicaid expenditures account for about nine percent of the federal budget and almost a quarter of state budgets and are growing rapidly. State Medicaid budgets are especially vulnerable to recession since states cannot incur large and sustained fiscal deficits. Without change, Medicaid burdens will cause state finances to be diverted from infrastructure and education, with negative effects on the costs and productivity of business. Also affecting business are the state governments experimenting with policies that shift Medicaid burdens to private employers. Simultaneously, the states are initiating efforts to ease Medicaid’s relentless cost increases and address its long-run problems. JEL Classification I180,H720     

Facial expressions of beneficiaries and donation intentions of potential donors: Effects of the number of beneficiaries in charity advertising

To increase the donation intentions of potential donors, many charities include pictures of beneficiaries in their ads, but there have been no consistent findings on how to effectively use features such as the facial expressions of beneficiaries. This study found that there was an interaction effect between facial expressions and the number of beneficiaries that influenced donation intentions. When charity ads used sad-faced beneficiaries, displaying a single beneficiary more effectively increased donation intentions than displaying multiple beneficiaries. However, when charity ads included happy-faced beneficiaries, displaying multiple beneficiaries was more effective than displaying a single beneficiary. Furthermore, the interaction effect between facial expressions and the number of beneficiaries was mediated by the perceived efficacy of a donation. In addition, this study found that for charity ads that used happy-faced beneficiaries, the relationship between the number of beneficiaries and donation intentions presented an inverted U-shaped.     

Temporal boundaries and expatriate staffing: Effects of parent–subsidiary work-time overlap

By integrating the boundary-spanning perspective with the expatriate staffing literature, we explore why and how temporal boundaries between multinational enterprise (MNE) parent and subsidiary locations affect MNEs’ deployment of expatriates in foreign subsidiaries. Temporal boundaries, defined as local work-time schedule differences, delimit the degree of work-time overlap between two locations. A lack of work-time overlap between MNE parent and subsidiary locations creates significant barriers in day-to-day, remote real-time communication, resulting in increased deployment of expatriates as intermediaries by parents to overcome these barriers. Conversely, greater parent–subsidiary work-time overlap enables more remote real-time communication via digital technologies, altering the cost–benefit analysis of deploying expatriates over local nationals, consequently reducing parents’ reliance on expatriates as intermediaries. Therefore, we posit a negative relationship between parent–subsidiary work-time overlap and the expatriate ratio in a subsidiary. Further, we posit that the negative relationship is weakened by home – host country distance in terms of information and communication technology development and linguistics because technological and semantic boundaries can reduce the effectiveness of parent–subsidiary real-time communication. Empirical analyses of 22,556 subsidiaries established by 5,912 Japanese MNEs operating in 31 host countries between 1990 and 2018 support our theorizing.     

The Role of Beneficiaries’ Group Identity in Determining Successful Appeal Strategies for Charitable Giving

What types of message appeals in charity advertisements are most likely to convince people to donate? Using university rivalry (Studies 1 and 2), nationality (Study 3), and freely chosen groups (Study 4), this research proposes that the beneficiaries’ group identity moderates the relative effectiveness of three benefit foci of message appeals in charity advertisements. The results indicate that other‐benefit appeals produce greater donation intentions than external self‐benefit appeals for in‐group beneficiaries, whereas external self‐benefit appeals produce greater donation intentions than other‐benefit appeals for rival (Studies 1–3), dissociative (Study 4), and neutral (Study 4) out‐group beneficiaries. Emotional‐benefit appeals are more effective than external self‐benefit appeals for in‐group beneficiaries, and are more effective than other‐benefit appeals for neutral out‐group beneficiaries, whereas they are less effective than external self‐benefit appeals for dissociative out‐group beneficiaries (Study 4). Empathy and belief in personal benefits mediate the interaction effect of benefit focus and beneficiary group on donation intentions (Studies 3 and 4). Theoretical and managerial implications of the current findings are discussed.     

The Effect of Internal Barriers on the Connection Between Stakeholder Integration and Proactive Environmental Strategies

This paper examines the influence of internal barriers on the relationship between the organizational capability of stakeholder integration and proactive environmental strategies. We adopt a moderate hierarchical regression model to test the hypotheses using data from a sample of 73 managers in the business education industry. The paper contributes to stakeholder theory by showing that stakeholder integration positively influences the development of proactive environmental strategies when managers perceive internal barriers to the development of such strategies. This article also explores an ethical dilemma—managers may use the stakeholder integration capability to support their own interests rather than to benefit stakeholders.     

Consumer-Driven Healthcare: Information,Incentives, Enrollment,and Implications for National Health Expenditures

We highlight the importance of information for consumerdriven healthcare (CDHC), describe barriers, display data on adoption rates and product features, and use a new health modeling approach to investigate the potential impact on national healthcare expenditures. We conclude with an assessment of the prospects for CDHC as a revolution of information, competition, and market orientation; and we discuss potential pitfalls, including concern regarding vulnerable populations. While the jury is out on the ultimate effects, enrollment in CDHC programs— while still small—is growing rapidly; utilization and costs for subscribers appear to be moderating; and creative benefit structures emphasize health promotion alongside previously unseen cost consciousness. JEL Classification I11     

基于博弈论的零售商与供应商关系探讨

本文运用博弈论对零售商与供应商的关系进行了分析,认为在非合作博弈条件下,零售商与供应商为追求各自利益的最大化,必然会相互竞争,这正是目前零售商与供应商矛盾冲突的根源;而在合作博弈条件下,零售商与供应商之间相互合作的结果要优于非合作博弈。文章提出,要实现零售商与供应商之间的合作博弈,应具备一定的前提和条件,必须采取措施消除阻碍零售商与供应商进行合作的障碍,创造合作博弈的环境和氛围,使零售商与供应商相互信任,创造零售商与供应商重复博弈的条件,公开企业市场行为信息,增加破坏合作的违约成本。     

Comparative cost advantage and trade performance: a panel data approach

This article examines the relationship of the components of labor cost—unit cost, productivity, compensation—to the structure of U.S. trade flows in manufacturing industries for the period 1967-1982. Earlier cross-sectional models do not account for differential trade barriers among industries while time series studies do not include changes in either trade barriers or exchange rates. This study addresses these problems by using a panel data model with fixed time effects. Because this model had limited success in estimating the labor compensation parameter, a panel data model with individual industry effects was also estimated.     

Quality choice in Medicaid markets. The case of nursing homes.

This article examines whether private patients, who typically pay a price higher than the Medicaid reimbursement rate, receive the same or higher quality services than Medicaid patients in the same health care facility. Because the mix of patients will affect the firm's cost only when Medicaid and private patients receive different levels of quality, the cost function can be used to test for the presence of quality differences. Estimates of a cost function for Texas nursing home in 1983 indicate that the mix of patients does not affect the firm's cost. Thus, private and Medicaid patients in the same nursing home receive the same level of quality.     

The effect of openness on corruption

The seminal paper on the subject of corruption and trade is from Kruger (1974). She finds that quantitative trade restrictions shift resources from directly productive activities to rent seeking activities, such as corruption. This paper analyses the relationship between corruption and trade using corruption estimates and trade measures from multiple sources. The majority of empirical evidence supports a negative relationship between corruption and openness; however, this does not hold for all the data sets available. The estimated relationship seems to depend on the choice of the corruption index. Therefore, the data only provide weak support for the contention that trade restrictions increase corruption.     

Online shopping continuance after COVID-19: A comparison of Canada,Germany and the United States

The COVID-19 pandemic brought about an increase in online shopping because of government-imposed restrictions and consumer anxiety over the potential health risk associated with in-store shopping. By end of 2021, many health concerns had been alleviated through efforts such as vaccinations and reductions in hospitalizations in certain countries. Some governments started to relax their restrictions and consumers started to return to in-store shopping, creating the possibility that the volume of online shopping would decrease once stores reopened. However, consumers may continue to shop online more than they did prior to the pandemic because of their experience during the lockdown. This study seeks to understand the factors that explain the potential of online shopping continuance. A novel model is constructed by extending ES-QUAL, and adding hedonic motivation, social shopping and health susceptibility as mediators. Empirical data is collected from Canada, Germany and the US. We find that convenience and efficiency, as well as security for some females, are important factors contributing to online shopping's perceived usefulness and, ultimately, intentions to continue shopping online. In addition, creating an enjoyable online shopping experience adds to these continuance intentions.     

Do Retail Foreign Direct Investment Restrictions Affect Retail Channel Structure?

The purpose of this study is to contribute to the existing retail channel structure research by investigating the impact of retail foreign direct investment (FDI) restrictions on retail channel structure as well as the moderating impact of a country's level of economic development on this relationship. Using a panel data set of 79 countries over the period 1999–2012, we show that retail FDI restrictions can influence retail channel structure development and that the relationship between retail FDI restrictions and retail channel structure is moderated by a country's level of economic development.     

Drivers of and Barriers to Organic Purchase Behavior

Using a cost–benefit approach, this study is the first to jointly investigate supply-side factors and consumer characteristics that drive or hinder organic purchases. With scanner data that track actual purchase behavior in 28 product categories, the authors find that organic products are less popular in vice categories and categories with high promotional intensity and more popular in fresh versus processed categories. Biospheric values that reflect a person's concern for the environment and animal welfare increase organic purchases. Quality and health motives drive organic purchases only in certain categories, in particular categories with a low promotional intensity. Egoism and price consciousness act as barriers to organic purchases.     

Foreign firm characteristics,labour market restrictions and FDI spillovers: Evidence from Moldova

This paper investigates how productivity spillovers from foreign to domestic firms are affected by foreign firm characteristics and labour market conditions in Moldova. We use firm-level administrative panel data and annual survey region-sector indicators of labour market conditions in 2005–2014. Baseline regressions show that domestic firms benefit from backward FDI spillovers, while we find no evidence of horizontal or forward spillovers. Spillover effects are heterogeneous and depend on the ownership structure and age of foreign firms. Domestic firms in upstream sectors benefit from both wholly foreign-owned companies (WFOC) and joint ventures (JV). However, JVs need less time in the market for positive spillovers to materialise, while WFOCs only lead to larger spillover effects when they are older. In regions and sectors where firms experience fewer labour market restrictions, backward FDI spillovers are larger. Interacting foreign firm characteristics with labour market restrictions, we find that spillovers through the labour market channel materialise only for older FDI, regardless of ownership type. The results are in line with our expectation that WFOCs need more time than JVs to develop linkages with local suppliers and lead to spillovers through this channel. Moreover, in developing countries labour market restrictions reduce labour mobility and consequently, the size of FDI spillovers across industries.     

成本收益与逆向物流系统构建

本文对逆向物流成本、收益进行分类并对其特点进行了分析;讨论了企业逆向物流的成本、收益与其在我国的发展现状间的关系;并提出了目前情况下,构建逆向物流系统过程中政府及企业的策略、方法的建议。     

When Do Local Firms Benefit from Inward Foreign Direct Investment? A Longitudinal Study of China's Manufacturing Sector Covering 1998–2007

Using comprehensive panel data on manufacturing firms in China during the 1998–2007 period, this study examines whether and when recipient local firms benefit from foreign direct investment (FDI). Local firms’ productivity improvements by the presence of foreign entrants are estimated, and according to the results, the relationship between FDI and local firms’ productivity shows an inverted U‐shaped pattern, with productivity increasing up to a certain point beyond which a higher level of FDI reduces local firms’ productivity. More importantly, the U‐shaped pattern is found for FDI from both non‐HMT foreign firms and overseas Chinese HMT (Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan) firms. In addition, the U‐shaped pattern varies across subnational regions such that the threshold at which an increase in FDI reduces productivity is lower for indigenous firms in coastal regions. This suggests that in China, local firms in inland and rural regions are the top beneficiaries of spillover effects. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.