New Conglomerates and the Ecosystem Advantage

It is the purpose of this paper to explore the emergence of a new form of web-based company and how the new organisational form is able to access multiple-markets and industries by exploiting the benefits of a platform ecosystem business model. Internet-based companies such as Amazon, Google, Facebook, and Apple were referred to as the ＂Gang of Four＂ in May, 2011, by Eric Schmidt, Executive Chairman of Google. These 21st century companies are leading an internet-based consumer revolution which is having a disruptive impact on a broad range of industries and markets. Using their platform-based ecosystems, the internet-based corporations are able to leverage these core competencies and enter industries that appear unrelated to their core businesses. This has given rise to a new form of conglomerate business model that contrasts with the Western industrial conglomerates of the 1960s and early 1970s. Most of these corporations were broken-up in the early 1980s and the remaining core businesses resorted to focused strategies. The paper also analyses why the new internet-based firms do not follow the positioning school of strategy and seek monopolistic rents--profits arising from market power--by locating in attractive industries. Instead, these firms leverage core competencies and achieve Ricardian economic rents--profits arising from superior resources--through strategies of stretch and leverage. By adopting a core competency tree configuration, a core competency platform is leveraged which allows the internet-based firms to enter multiple markets using asset-light business models. This new form of competitive advantage is based on having a superior ecosystem that uses data as the key resource instead of capital; capital being the main resource underpinns the success of the traditional Western conglomerates of the 1960s and early 1970s.     

Urban Conflict and Social Movements in Poor Countries: Theory and Evidence of Collective Action

This paper evaluates the perennial question of whether the urban poor in developing countries are autonomous political actors or co-opted tools of patronage. I develop a theoretical interpretation of urban politics, arguing that collective action is shaped by changing configurations of state, economy and civil society. Collective action is expressed in struggles over labor, public goods and political rights — issues of varying salience in different periods of development. The theoretical framework generates a set of propositions which I evaluate with reference to a wide range of secondary evidence. At bottom, the data indicate that collective action varies in form and intensity (militance) with specifiable conditions. Illustratively, clientism did predominate during the ‘developmental decades’ (1960–80) that followed earlier (1930–60) experiences of militant labor conflict and yielded in the current period of neoliberalism to struggles for political rights. Cet article évalue l’éternelle question de savoir si les pauvres des villes dans les pays en voie de développement sont des participants politiques autonomes ou des instruments de patronage cooptés. Je développe une interprétation théorique des politiques urbaines soutenant que l’action collective est formée par les configurations changeantes de l’état, de l’économie et de la société civile. L’action collective s’exprime dans les luttes pour le travail, les biens publics et les droits politiques — des problèmes dont l’importance varie suivant les périodes de développement. Ce modèle théorique engendre un ensemble de propositions que j’évalue par rapport à une variété de preuves secondaires. En fin de compte, les données indiquent que la forme et l’intensité (activisme) de l’action collective varient selon des conditions qui peuvent être spécifiées. Pour illustrer, le clientisme prédominait durant les ‘décennies de développement’ (1960–1980) qui suivirent les experiences précédentes (1930–1960) de conflits des travailleurs militants et a donné lieu, dans la période actuelle de néo-libéralisme, aux luttes pour les droits politiques.     

How International Exchange, Technology, and Institutions Affect Workers: An Introduction

In a world of deepening trade links, rapid technological change,and weakening institutions, workers in rich and poor countriesalike are concerned about their incomes and the security oftheir work. In contrast to the substantial quantity of analysison industrial countries, relatively little careful work hasbeen done on these issues in developing countries, especiallyin the context of the recent globalization of economic relations.Empirical work suggests that disequalizing trends in some developingcountries may have been caused by the entry of low-income countriessuch as China into world production or by the greater qualityand technological requirements of contemporary trade in goods.Whatever the source, these results raise questions about theviability of institutional mechanisms for supporting the incomesecurity and working conditions of workers. Many labor marketregulations are already ineffective owing to weak enforcementcapabilities. However, in most developing countries, there willbe a rising fraction of workers in formal labor contracts, risingdemands for formal mechanisms for dealing with income insecurity,and a potentially larger role for unions in an important segmentof the work force. Thus, it is of increasing importance to setthe policy and institutional framework in a fashion that isboth consistent with competitive pressures and supportive ofworkers' participation and security.     

Strategic supply chain choices for multi-channel Internet retailers

Multi-channel retailing—selling through multiple, distinct channels—has been a part of the retail industry as long as there have been main street merchants selling through catalogs. Since the mid-1990s, however, multi-channel retailing has increased dramatically due to traditional retailers selling over the Internet. This trend presents considerable operational challenges because Internet and traditional retail have vastly different demand drivers, product variety issues, optimal inventory configurations, cost structures, supply chain structures, and delivery mechanisms. Consequently, the optimal supply chain configuration for Internet delivery differs considerably from the optimal supply chain configuration for a retail store structure, so designing a supply chain system to serve both channels well is difficult. Accordingly, a set of strategic choices and trade-offs must be made. Here, we present some strategic alternatives.     

IFRS in Europe – An Observer's Perspective of the Next 10 Years

Abstract

What follows is a personal reflection on the challenges that may face the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) Foundation in the next 10 years, and is based on two conference presentations and the debate at those conferences. The suggestion is that the character of the members of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) in its second decade is different from that of the founding board, and is more pragmatic than crusading. It is mooted that the board will need to address second-order issues of the organisation and policy, and that Europe will try to take a more influential role. The article observes that existing issues of funding, complexity and differential reporting may become more urgent and will need to be addressed for the organisation to continue to evolve.