Culture and International business research: A review and research agenda

This study explores the role of culture and international business in internationalization outcomes through a systematic review and analysis of articles published between 2009 and 2019. By mapping the current research domain, this review reflects the avenues for future research in theory development, context, characteristics, and methodology (TCCM) in eight research clusters identified as national culture, external uncertainty avoidance, knowledge transfer & collaboration, HRM & management practices, international diversification research, entrepreneurial mindset, interaction, and firm performance. The clusters were grouped into independent factors and internationalization outcome factors. This framework provided deeper insights into the theoretical implications which will lead to further advancement in these research areas.     

Corruption in international business: A review and research agenda

We systematically reviewed the literature on corruption in international business (137 articles) for the last 17 years between 1992 and 2019. Additionally, we identified seven research streams in this growing literature: (1) the legislation against corruption, (2) the determinants of corruption, (3) combating corruption, 4) the effect of corruption on firms, (5) the political environment and corruption, (6) corruption as a challenge to existing theories of management, and (7) the effect of corruption on foreign direct investment and trade. Based on this review, we recommend that strong international laws are needed to minimize the negative impact of corruption on international business. Firms must also consider corruption when formulating strategies to increase operational efficiency and performance. Finally, corruption challenges some key assumptions of existing theories of management. Scholars need to test and expand these existing theories by considering corruption as an important issue in international business.     

International business and human rights: A research agenda

The discussion on business responsibilities for human rights is thriving – although, surprisingly, predominantly outside of the International Business (IB) field. This article introduces business and human rights (BHR) as a research area with great potential for IB scholars. IB scholarship has much to offer when it comes to better understanding the relation between multinational enterprises (MNEs) and human rights. BHR, on the other hand, is a field that can no longer be ignored by IB research if the field is to remain at the forefront of scholarship in globalization-related issues concerning MNEs. Therefore, this perspective article aims at providing guidance to IB scholars interested in engaging in BHR research by tracing common themes and overlaps, and outlining a research agenda that addresses some of the research gaps and open questions in both fields.     

Investigating customer value in global business markets: Commentary essay

This commentary reflects on Blocker's cross-cultural investigation of relationship value in business markets, published in this issue, and identifies several research avenues. From a theoretical point of view, researchers should develop and test hypotheses grounded in both conceptual frameworks and extant literature to expand knowledge of how national cultures-as well as other country-specific variables-affect customer value perceptions in business markets. From a methodological point of view, ongoing research should establish cross-cultural measurement equivalence on the basis of procedures specifically designed to support formative customer value models. Finally, this commentary highlights several key insights related to models of customer value in international business markets.     

Modeling customer value perceptions in cross-cultural business markets

Even as customer value research in business-to-business markets burgeons, scholars still circumscribe its progress to studies performed in domestic, Western markets and call attention to the ongoing lack of consensus for how to model customer value. To advance the validity and usefulness of this emerging core construct in marketing, this study investigates the measurement equivalence and modeling of customer value perceptions with business managers across five culturally-diverse countries. Analyses draw clarity to the divergent modeling of customer value in the literature by exploring alternative measures and model specifications within structural equations modeling (SEM) and partial least squares (PLS). Comparisons of eight models reveal several valid and invalid conceptualizations reported previously in the literature and generate guidance for managers and scholars modeling customer value in various research contexts.     

International strategy and business groups: A review and future research agenda

Motivated by the growth and internationalization of business groups, this paper reviews the business group literature and presents a future research agenda, highlighting their implications for international strategy. The paper identifies theoretical tensions and empirical ambiguities around three key business group features—corporate governance, internal markets, and corporate strategy—and three key outcome variables—performance, economic impact, and innovation—that have generated significant debate. We conclude with three methodological concerns relevant to these debates: generalizing business group research across countries, endogeneity in business group research, and performance measurement in business groups.     

Combining value and price to make purchase decisions in business markets

The authors investigate how purchasing managers combine information about product offerings' values and prices to make purchase decisions. The results of two field studies show that managers do not regard monetarily-equivalent changes in value and price to be the same. Using reference-dependent theory, the authors show that, rather than a single utility function, separate functions for value and price appear to underlie purchasing managers' decisions. The authors also address means of inducing managers to choose higher-valued, higher-priced product offerings.     

Corporate governance in emerging markets: A selective review and an agenda for future research

In this paper, we show how corporate governance reforms and research have been mutually reinforcing in emerging markets and propose a research agenda going forward. Acknowledging the by now broad recognition of corporate governance as a key development driver, we show how work on corporate governance in emerging markets has led research globally by focusing on the deep issues of ownership structures, property rights and organisational forms. Using the papers presented at the latest international conference of the Emerging Markets Corporate Governance Research Network, we illustrate how analyses of board structures, specifically gender diversity, has contributed to understanding of board dynamics and informed corporate governance reforms. Considering ongoing economic and socio-political trends, we conclude with a general research agenda for corporate governance in emerging markets.     

A systems perspective on markets – Toward a research agenda

This paper addresses the implications of an emerging, increasingly important way of thinking about markets: systems thinking. A market is one of the most founational abstractions in marketing and business research; yet, it often receives too little attention. As a result, the taken-for-granted assumptions about markets spur from over-simplified conceptualizations of neoclassical economics that depict markets as static and mechanistic. Systems thinking represents a major change in perspective that involves transcending this mechanistic worldview and thinking instead in terms of wholes, relationships, processes, and patterns. We argue that building a theory of markets based on systems thinking, would enable scholars to develop more realistic models that correspond with fast-changing business environment and therefore, increase both the rigor and relevance of future research. To further this aim, we identify the main implications of systems thinking and formulate them into a research agenda to further the systemic understanding of markets.     

The institutional dimension of business ethics: An agenda for reflection research and action

The current discussion of business ethics is nothing new. In fact it has been a topic of common interest to both researchers and top managers since the mid fifties; the focus adjusting to issues and problems of the times. The authors of the article list four themes they believe to be of relevance for future discussion. First, ethics as an instrument of business behavior is entering a new dimension due to negative side effects of economic activities, which are even observed on a global scale and where it is doubtful that governments can adequately manage this complex environment. From this view, ethics becomes a decisive component of efficiency and requires a new way of thinking on the development of the market system and on a new delineation of responsibilities between government and markets. Second, in the process of transformation of the East-European states it seems to be all the more important to emphasize the ethical characteristics which are part of the concept of competition — the gains to the consumer due to the plurality of search and discovery procedures, the capability to correct and absorb wrong decisions, and the specific distributional ethics. Third, business ethics as an element of the firm's “guiding vision” has to be incorporated into its corporate culture, which will foster an institutional ethic of the firm — the joint effect of individual ethics within the history of the firm coupled with time and experience. Fourth, conflicting business philosophies must be judged with reference to the process of communication of business ethics. Summing up business ethics has a micro and macro component and is related to the individual firm as well as to the structure of the economic and social order. Ethics will, however, have a limited effect if it is not accompanied by the change in goals, structures and processes.     

创新传播 创新价值——大贺传媒集团董事长贺超兵谈2009集团发展

2008北京奥运的惊艳亮相带给人们无与伦比的享受和狂欢,在这场国际盛宴上,来自本土的大贺传媒集团承接了其中30多个竞赛、非竞赛、训练场馆的内外景观和标识,充分展示了“东广包装魔法师”的魅力。但医理 事长贺超兵并没有停留在这一成绩上,面对2009他早已继续前行,期待创造下一个奇迹。     

Advancing societal grand challenge research at the interface of entrepreneurship and international business: A review and research agenda

Societal grand challenges are increasingly attracting the attention of both entrepreneurship and international business scholars. While entrepreneurship focuses on the opportunities that emerge and need for bold and innovative solutions, international business research emphasizes the global reach of the challenges and role of multinational enterprises. Although both conversations are insightful, we argue that examining one without the other gives an incomplete picture on how to address grand challenges. In this paper, we conduct a systematic review of the conversation on grand challenges in the international business and entrepreneurship literature. Upon synthesizing the results, we create an integrated framework and research agenda for viewing grand challenges through an international entrepreneurial lens.     

International vertical alliances within the international business field: A systematic literature review and future research agenda

International vertical alliances (IVAs) have garnered increasing scholarly interest in the strategy and international business (IB) literature. Our review of 111 papers published in major IB journals from 2000 to 2020 sheds light on the antecedents, key mediators, moderators and outcomes of IVAs. To generate insights, we juxtaposed forward and backward alliances and compared IVAs with their domestic vertical and horizontal counterparts. In this paper, we highlight key areas for future IVA research, including—but not limited to—broadening the scope of the investigation in order to integrate new theories and methods suited to examine such alliances in the IB field.     

Marketing in retailing: a research agenda

Although specific retailing subjects related to marketing have been extensively

researched and presented in academic literature, the overall topic of marketing in

retailing has received little attention. This paper identifies and discusses some

principal marketing in retailing issues that warrant empirical assessment.

Research attention to the questions raised in this paper will provide strategic

Guidelines to retailers seeking to improve the marketing performance of their

organizations.     

Anti-consumption: An overview and research agenda

This introduction to the Journal of Business Research special issue on anti-consumption briefly defines and highlights the importance of anti-consumption research, provides an overview of the latest studies in the area, and suggests an agenda for future research on anti-consumption.     

Resource interaction in inter-organizational networks: Foundations, comparison, and a research agenda

The focus of this article is on discussing the foundations, conceptual development, and implications of resource interaction in inter-organizational networks. The article conceptualizes and classifies resources before discussing how resource interfaces enable to utilize, manage, and change resources. In doing so it provides a set of basic principles as to how resources interact at a network level, or how firms combine, develop, mobilize, and manage resources over time. This is in strong contrast to a focus on the acquisition, accumulation, and exchange of resources by the firm. The article further provides a comparison with two other research streams, the Resource-Based view (RBV) and the Service-Dominant logic (S-D logic), in order to better position this perspective on inter-organizational resource interaction. It concludes by discussing an agenda for further research.