Global managers and Japanese multinationals: internationalization and management in Japanese financial institutions

The paper examines the internationalization of Japanese banks in the 1980s and 1990s and the experiences of managers within them. These banks underwent a vast expansion in international activities in the 1980s, followed by an equally rapid contraction in the 1990s. Building on a series of interviews conducted in London and Tokyo in the period 1999-2001, the paper examines how this impacted on the careers and expectations of both Japanese and non-Japanese managers. The paper argues that the organizations have been fundamentally changed by these experiences and have become in varying ways ‘transnational social spaces’. The idea of multinationals as transnational social spaces is developed as a general way of linking flows (of people, practices and ideas) inside the firm to broader processes in the development of global political economy.     

Attitudes in the Danish tourism industry to the roles of business and government in sustainable tourism

The introduction of more sustainable forms of tourism in a country is likely to be the result of a combination of government regulations and other interventions and businesses making their own decisions in response to the market. This paper examines attitudes among senior managers in the Danish tourism industry to where prime responsibility lies for promoting sustainable tourism practices. The opinions of these senior industry managers are also reported on incentives and obstacles to the adoption of sustainable tourism practices, on external assistance that may encourage the introduction of these practices, and whether there should be more government regulations to encourage their adoption. Industry attitudes in Denmark to these issues are of particular interest because of the relative prominence of environmental issues in the country. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Performance feedback and middle managers’ divergent strategic behavior: The roles of social comparisons and organizational identification

Research Summary: What drives middle managers to search for new strategic initiatives and champion them to top management? This behavior—labeled divergent strategic behavior—spawns emergent strategies and thereby provides one of the essential ingredients of strategic renewal. We conceptualize divergent strategic behavior as a response to performance feedback. Data from 123 senior middle managers overseeing 21 multi‐country organizations (MCOs) of a Fortune 500 firm point to social performance comparisons rather than historical comparisons in driving divergent strategic behavior. Moreover, managers’ organizational identification affects whether they attend to organizational‐ or individual‐level feedback. These results contribute to research on performance aspirations and strategy process by providing a multilevel, multidimensional framework of performance aspirations in middle management driven strategic renewal. Managerial Summary: Middle managers are essential actors in strategic renewal. Their unique positions offer insights into operations alongside knowledge of strategy. In contrast to typical assessments of managerial performance with reference to a prior year, this research shows that performance comparisons relative to peers and other organizational units better motivate managers’ divergent strategic behavior. Our results also show that managers who identify with the firm are more attentive to organizational rather than individual performance discrepancies. Thus, our study unveils an important approach for organizations aiming to spark strategic renewal.     

Supply and demand estimates for feed grains in China

In the past two decades, the use of grain to feed livestock in China has increased rapidly. A number of studies have examined demand and supply of grain for animal feed in China. Forecasts have been made. Generally, these projections have turned out to be well wide of the actual supply and demand. Further, forecasts of supply and demand for feed grains for the same time periods have differed greatly. Accurate forecasts of variables affecting supply and demand benefit both producers and consumers. Past forecasts of supply and demand of feed grain for livestock production in China are reviewed and reasons for discrepancies between projections are explored. Ways to improve projections of demand for and supply of grain for livestock feed in China are identified.     

Personal Bankruptcy Law and New Business Formation

Using a panel of all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia from 1990 to 1999, we report a nonlinear relation between state bankruptcy exemptions and new business formation. The rate of new business formation first increases as exemptions increase, but it then decreases. This result reflects the fact that bankruptcy exemptions tend to affect both demand for and supply of external financing to potential entrepreneurs.     

Terms-of-trade policy in a model with non-produced means of production

Terms-of-trade policies between agriculture and industry are analysed in a two-sector Sraffian model. If both sectors use only produced means of production and labor, it can be shown that an improvement in agriculture's terms of trade always leads to higher profits in agriculture. However, when non-produced means of production are introduced an exogenous increase in the relative price of agricultural commodities may cause the rate of profit in agriculture to increase, remain constant, or even decrease. Two preconditions are identified for the case in which a favorable movement in agriculture's terms of trade decreases that sector's profit rate. First at least one quality of competitively priced land must be scarce relative to the total output required. Second, the initial, economy-wide rate of profit must be positive. Finally, the effect of an input subsidy used in conjunction with terms-of-trade policy is considered. It is shown that under certain conditions reducing the price of production inputs can also cause profits to fall and rents to rise in agriculture.     

Insurance broker–client relationships: An assessment of quality and duration

This study examines the relationship between brokers and clients in the UK insurance industry. The overriding concern is evaluation of the duration of the different stages in a relationship and characteristics that have an impact on the quality of a relationship. As in previous work, trust, commitment and customer satisfaction positively influence relationship outcomes but not in equal measures and have different impacts at different stages. A model describing these stages, unique to this relationship, is tested but the impact of different characteristics is still inconclusive. Service quality is found to be a mediating variable and has significant impact. The results, based on a sample of 118 clients, reveal that relationships need to be re-examined in an industry and time-specific way. Additional research issues are identified.