International franchising in China with Kodak

According to Kodak, China poses unparalleled opportunities for low‐cost production and marketing of products to the world's largest nation. According to the company's estimate, China will become the largest market in the world for photographic products and services within the next ten years. This article reviews Kodak's operations in China and presents an interview with a local franchising manager in Shanghai—the largest city in China. It provides a unique glimpse into the inner working of the organization's franchising activities in China. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Filipino ethnic entrepreneurship: An integrated review and propositions

With a large percentage of its population as overseas workers or emigrants, a number now in the millions and likely grow even larger, an examination is appropriate of the entrepreneurial challenges and opportunities faced by emigrants from the Philippines. This study explores the factors that shape entrepreneurship among emigrants in general and, in particular, among Filipinos in the United States of America. Integrating literature from a variety of sources relating to the migration of Filipinos and the creation and management of new ventures by ethnic entrepreneurs in the United States, it proposes a general model of ethnic entrepreneurship, develops propositions relating to the propensity of Filipino emigrants to establish entrepreneurial ventures, and concludes with suggestions for future research.     

Examining the determinants of hotel chain expansion through international franchising

This study proposes and tests an agency-based organizational model of internationalization through franchising in the hotel sector. Using data obtained from a Franchisor Questionnaire 2001-2008, we analyzed a panel of 117 observations of 17 U.S.-based hotels. Our analysis reveals that a hotel franchisor's decision to internationalize through franchising is positively related to the percentage of franchises, the ratio of franchised units to the total number of units. The article contributes to the literature by empirically modeling international franchising of hotels, which present unique characteristics among franchising companies, with a high investment capital requirement, maturity in the product life cycle, and a high level of standardization and globalization of operations. The unique characteristics of individual chains and their segment in the industry are particularly important, as revealed by both data analysis and expert opinion.     

The valuation of inflation‐indexed and FX convertible bonds

This paper derives a valuation model of inflation‐indexed convertible bonds that incorporates the firm's stock price, inflation indexing and the firm's credit risk. The pricing of inflation‐indexed convertible bonds traded on the Tel‐Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) was empirically tested by using a comprehensive database. The study is the first to empirically test the pricing of convertibles in emerging markets. It was found that the theoretical values for the bonds are, on average, 1.94% higher than the observed market prices. Unlike previous studies, it was found that the underpricing increases with the moneyness of the convertible. It was found that as the maturity lengthens, the underpricing increases. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Jrl Fut Mark 28:634–655, 2008     

The globalization of Chinese enterprises

The question of how and why Chinese firms globalize is one of the most pressing issues for businesses today. China's globalization process is nothing less than remarkable. The twenty‐first century will feature a developing country as the leader of the global economy by 2020, when, by most estimates, China's purchasing power parity (PPP) gross domestic product (GDP) surpasses America's. With China's new role on the world's stage, global economic and political institutions are likely to change. China's foray into Latin America, for example, has changed the traditional role that America has played in its “backyard.” While the Chinese government was given much credit for China's globalization, Chinese private‐ and family‐owned businesses have also propelled China outward. Our research stream and annual China Goes Global conference at Harvard has attempted to frame the questions associated with China's globalization. This special issue is another important step in this direction. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The Use of Franchising by U.S.-Based Retailers

The question of whether to franchise or to own has received much research interest in recent years. Two popular approaches used to explain the proportion of franchising (PF) in the franchisor's system are resource-scarcity and agency theories. This study combines both theories to explain the proportion of franchised outlets in the U.S. retailing sector between 1990 and 1997. The findings show mixed results with regard to both previous studies and hypothesized relationships. The study shows that the proportion of franchising used by retailers is positively related to size (number of outlets) and geographical scope, and negatively related to the rate of growth and the level of investment. Age and royalty rates are not found to be significant to the proportion of franchising.     

Religious freedom, religious diversity, and Japanese foreign direct investment

Research into the links between religion and foreign direct investment is scarce, partly because research on religion has not been the traditional domain of business and economics. Nevertheless, religion affects the economies, political structures, legal environments, and social behaviors of people around the world and is, therefore, an important element of the international business environments. Foreign direct investment (FDI) decisions are often made after an assessment of the international business environments. This article makes a singular contribution by focusing on the impact of religion – religious freedom and religious diversity – on the foreign direct investment of Japanese companies. We find that national income and religious diversity significantly influence Japanese decisions to invest.     

Exploring the differences between franchisee entrepreneurs and nascent entrepreneurs

This paper is singular in its use of the PSED dataset for deriving a better understanding of the nature of nascent entrepreneurs as compared to franchisee entrepreneurs. We used previous studies on the differences between the two groups and developed variables divided into three dimensions: (1) prior experience, (2) growth objectives, and (3) motivation and risk. Jonckheere–Terpstra (J–T) tests, Chi-Square tests, F-tests and logistic regression models detected differences in all three dimensions. The conclusion is that franchisee entrepreneurs in the United States of America are distinctive in their characteristics. As compared to nascent entrepreneurs, franchisee entrepreneurs have less experience, less confidence in their skills, less capital, more aspirations for larger organizations, less confidence in their abilities to make the business a success, and more belief that their first-year incomes will be stable.

Internationalization of Chinese Entrepreneurial Firms

This article uses the resource‐based and internationalization theories to explain the export behavior of Chinese entrepreneurial firms. Based on multiyear data on Chinese firms from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), we show that contextualized resource‐based theory can adequately explain some of the variation in export behavior among young Chinese firms. Exports by small Chinese firms are driven by the social and intellectual capital of the entrepreneur and their entrepreneurial proclivity, and the innovativeness/uniqueness of the product/offering. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.