How Should Customers Be Integrated for Effective Interorganizational NPD Teams? An Input–Process–Output Perspective

Interorganizational new product development (NPD) teams with business customers are rapidly becoming more prevalent; yet the drivers of such cooperations at the team level remain unclear to practitioners and researchers alike. This study proposes an input–process–output model in which various characteristics of interorganizational teams affect NPD team effectiveness through the mediating construct of NPD team cooperation. Furthermore, various moderators, reflecting the supplier's dependence on the customers (customer power and customer participation) and the supplier's environmental uncertainty (market dynamism and technological turbulence), affect the strength of the underlying relationships. The results show that customer power positively affects the relationship between intrapersonal team characteristics and team cooperation. In addition, a negative moderation occurs in interpersonal characteristics. Customer participation exhibits opposing moderating effects. Regarding the supplier's environmental uncertainty, market dynamism and technological turbulence strengthen the relationships under consideration.     

Eine soziologische Systemanalyse und sozio-ökonomisches Review der Soziotechnik Energiewende

The transition of the energy supply system in Germany from fossil-nuclear energy resources to renewable energies is a policy issue and defines a society technics. Society technics takes responsibility for an essential societal need and should be based on an agreement between all actors in all involved systems. According to a society-technics there are benefits for encouraging research, good governance for political support, public understanding of science (PUSH), and academic consultation for politics.Positive implementation will results in optimal coordination as all systems will function and all actors will work for synergy-effects. But a sociological system analyses works out many “dyssynergies”, handling the transition only as technological challenges and failing in underlying this transformation as a socio-technical system. Using renewable energies will not only change the technological system architecture but also modifying social systems and individual attitudes.     

Analyse der Marktaussichten von Biogasanlagen

Without guaranteed compensation, granted by the German Renewable Energy Sources Act (Erneuerbare Energien Gesetz/EEG), biogas plants compete with all other plant types on the market for electrical energy. However, exchange-based electricity products do not currently permit an economically viable operation of biogas plants owing to their cost situation.     

Smart Meter-Angebote: Eine empirische Untersuchung von Kundenpräferenzen

The implementation of smart meters in German households by 2032 is a major step in the transition towards an intelligent and connected energy system. Despite of federal legislation providing a structured plan for the nationwide smart meter rollout including basic product requirements, actors within the energy market have the opportunity to take an active part in shaping the market through appealing product offers and hence to create competitive advantage. This study identifies relevant features of smart meters from literature und business practice, and measures customer’s preferences for these features. Results indicate predominantly positive customer evaluations of smart meter features, amongst which the availability of consumption data, the installation price and rental charges as well as time variable tariffs contribute most to overall utility of smart meters. Finally, findings suggest targeting customers by defining strategies to address privacy concerns, to educate about saving potentials as well as to create differentiated pricing schemes.     

Political hazards and entry modes of Chinese investments in Africa

Africa has achieved the fastest growth rate of inward foreign direct investment (FDI) recently. Yet heightened political hazards present substantial challenges to foreign firms in Africa. This study examines the entry strategies that firms may take to mitigate such hazards by exploring the relationship between political hazards and entry mode choices in Africa. We further consider how an investing firm’s host country experience and foreign aid provided by its home country government to host countries in Africa can influence this relationship. In a sample of listed Chinese firms’ investments in Africa from 2000 to 2014, we find that Chinese firms tend to use the joint venture mode when political hazards are high in an African country. This relationship is weakened when they accumulate host country experience and when the Chinese government’s foreign aid to an African country increases. Our findings point to firm-level strategies to mitigate political hazards as well as instruments available to home country governments to help their multinational firms operating in host countries characterized by unstable political environments.     

Is abusive supervision an absolute devil? Literature review and research agenda

Abusive supervision has received increasing attention in the field. However, few studies have qualitatively reviewed its latest developments. The current paper reviews 48 studies on abusive supervision using content analysis. We identify six emerging trends of abusive supervision, including inconsistency of abusive behaviors, comparison between perceived and objective behaviors, reciprocity, team-level climate, coworker effects, and comparisons between theoretical perspectives. Based on a review of those six trends and some emerging findings, we identify and validate the possible positive effects of abusive supervision from an integrated analysis. We also determine the moderating role that Asian culture plays in differentiating the negative and positive effects of abusive supervision. Specifically, we identify the differences between Asian and Western cultures, and then explore the moral mechanisms (i.e., violation of moral standards, conflict of moral principles) through which abusive supervision may exert positive effects in the Asian cultural context. Finally, we clarify our theoretical implications and provide suggestions for future research.     

International business research output and rankings of Asia-Pacific universities: A 40-year time-series analysis

This study measures and ranks the performance of countries and academic institutions based on a 40-year analysis of publications appearing in 14 leading business and management journals. The focus is on the evolution of Asia-Pacific institutions in international business research output during this period. In addition, an examination is performed to identify factors associated with Asia-Pacific institutions that have achieved the highest rankings. This research shows that the Journal of International Business Studies and the Journal of World Business were central in spreading international business research, as well as in supporting research by authors from the Asia-Pacific region. Further, schools such as Harvard, Wharton, and University of South Carolina have maintained the highest ranks in research output throughout the 40-year period, but recent years have witnessed the emergence of the Chinese University of Hong Kong and University of Hong Kong, among others, in those top ranks.     

How does local partners network embeddedness affect international joint venture survival in different subnational contexts?

Do local partners' network attributes affect the survival of high-tech international joint ventures (IJV)? How does the effect of network attributes vary in different subnational institutional environments? While the classic economic explanation for IJV formation and subsequent performance draws from the resource-based view (RBV), we add the relational dimension to explain that IJV survival may be affected by local partners’ relation-specific assets within the local network. We test the effect of the local partners’ network attributes as calculated by UCINET (centrality, network status, and structural hole position) on IJV survival. We additionally assert that this relationship is moderated by subnational institutional heterogeneity. Using our sample of 125 IJV dyadic pairs of US multinational enterprises (MNEs) operating in high-tech industries and their local partners in China, we find partial support for our claims.