A conceptual framework for intra-company technology transfer: cases of leveraging production process innovations across MNEs

Multinational enterprises (MNEs) strive to commercialise their knowledge base globally by mobilising their technological competencies, transferring them across organisational boundaries, and selling the resulting systems, products, processes, and services worldwide. However, co-operation within MNEs still leaves potential for improvement, because intra-company transfers of technology as modes of corporate expansion and conquest of new international markets seldom work efficiently. Academic literature has not adequately addressed this important issue. Based on six case studies from MNEs, this paper highlights the challenges of intra-company technology transfer by examining exemplary cases of production process-related technology transfers. It establishes a conceptual framework model for intra-company technology transfers and identifies important success factors.     

Retention of latent segments in regression-based marketing models

Product design and marketing mix decisions for segmented markets depend crucially on the correct specification of marketing models used as input to these decisions. With real-world data, the true number of segments in a market is unknown. Current evidence from simulation studies suggests that the accuracy of commonly used criteria for determining the number of segments in a market depends on the usage context, including the type of distribution being used to describe the data, the model specification, and the characteristics of the market. This study investigates via simulation the performance of seven segment retention criteria used with finite mixture regression models for normal data. This is one of the most important analysis contexts in marketing research since regression models are used, for example, in conjoint analysis and market response analysis, yet no previous study in either the marketing or statistics literatures explores the segment retention problem for mixture regression models. The study shows that one criterion, Akaike's Information Criterion (AIC) with a per-parameter penalty factor of 3 (AIC3), is clearly the best criterion to use across a wide variety of model specifications and data configurations, having the highest success rate and producing very low parameter bias. Currently, this criterion is rarely, if ever, used in the marketing literature.     

Pollution Taxes When Firms Choose Technologies

We consider the properties of a pollution tax when the regulated firm has a discrete choice of technologies with which to reduce pollution. The firm's technology choice makes possible two sequences of play: the traditional one in which the regulator moves first, committing to a tax rate before the firm adopts a technology, and an alternative one in which the firm moves first by adopting a technology. We find that a range of pollution levels, including possibly the first-best one, are unattainable when the regulator moves first. The regulator may be better able to achieve the first-best outcome when the firm moves first.     

The International Transmission of Money Market Fluctuations

This study analyzes the interdependence of money markets in Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The authors estimate a vector-autoregression system using daily data on three-month money market rates from December 31, 1979, through February 28, 1990. Consistent with the notion of informational efficiency, money markets respond very rapidly to a shock in any one country. The U.S. market plays a leading role, in that the after-effects of a shock there are much stronger and last much longer than those of a shock elsewhere. In contrast with previous studies on stock markets, the responses are larger and more persistent, the markets are less interdependent, and the U.S. market is relatively less influential.     

Inequality and Poverty in China: Institutional Change and Public Policy, 1978 to 1988

There is considerable uncertainty and debate about changes inpoverty and living standards that are likely to occur in aneconomy in transition from centrally planned allocations toa more market-oriented basis, but a dearth of evidence and rigorousanalysis remains. There is a tradeoff between policies thatprovide a guaranteed living standard with low inequality, albeitat a low income level, and systems that provide much highermonetary incomes, but create greater income variability andvulnerability, particularly during periods of high inflation.The Chinese experience following the economic reforms of 1978highlights this dilemma, and our analysis strongly suggeststhe need for appropriate social safety nets if rapid growthis to be achieved without the poor and vulnerable bearing thecosts of such growth.     

Vertical Integration,Foreign Multinationals and Stigler's Hypotheses: An Empirical Test Using Malaysian Data*

In this paper the hypotheses on motives for vertical integration as proposed by Stigler are empirically tested using a panel dataset from Malaysian manufacturing under both fixed‐effects and random‐effects specifications. Because the degree of multinational participation is expected to influence the results of the regression estimates, empirical tests are conducted with and without controlling for the effect of foreign firms’ participation. Depending on model specifications, evidence is found in favor of Stigler's hypotheses where vertical integration is positively related to demand growth and industry concentration. This result is generally consistent with those found in other vertical integration studies. Significantly, the coefficient estimates of the growth variable are not significant and biased downwards if there is no control on the effect of foreign multinationals in the estimation process.     

How important is the financial sector to price indices in an inflation targeting regime? An empirical analysis of the UK and the US

This paper investigates whether there are benefits in terms of higher economic stability from incorporating stock prices into the price index targeted by the central banks. It also looks into the question of whether central banks should use stock prices as a component of the output stability index and how the index can be constructed. An optimization technique is employed to estimate weights for the various sectoral prices. The obtained weights, which depend on sectoral parameters, differ from those used in the construction of the consumer price index, CPI. Using data from the UK and the US, our analysis demonstrates that in comparison to the CPI, our measure of inflation leads to a higher output stability. Thus, in an inflation-targeting monetary policy environment, it is important to adopt a broader inflation benchmark than the CPI for the general macroeconomic stability.     

Constructing Fama–French Factors from Style Indices: Evidence from the Islamic Equity Market

This study has contributed to the analysis of the Fama–French three-factor model by proving the validity of model using the newly constructed Fama–French factors from Malaysian Islamic stock market. With generalized method of moments and robustness tests, our results compliment earlier studies by comparing the results over two sub-periods, before and after the financial crises and the fall of Lehman Bros. The results of the analysis suggest that the reversal of size effects exists after periods of financial crisis. This is the first attempt to create FF factors and test the model from Islamic equity style indices.     

Dynamics of relational goods

We propose a model of social relationships in which relational goods are the results of individual joint efforts and past attitudes toward socialising. We show the effect of individual different inclinations toward social relationships on the dynamic properties of the system either assuming homogeneous or heterogeneous individuals. Particularly, we show the role assumed by the environment and past experience of individuals on the dynamic outcome. We use a triangular finite-different system to investigate these issues. We analyse the conditions for the convergence of the system to a low-socialising trap and we propose a few policy corrections to get out of it.     

Terrorism and its Determinants in the Sub‐Saharan Africa Region: Some New Insights

Terrorism is undesirable as it adversely affects the economic development of countries. This study explores the determinants of terrorism in 29 countries of sub‐Saharan Africa (SSA). The data is extracted from reliable sources spanning over 2005 to 2016. Econometric techniques relevant for panel data that control for unobserved heterogeneity (fixed effects) and endogeneity (generalized method of moment) are employed to estimate the specified models. The results indicated that low growth in per capita incomes along with political instability are the main driving forces responsible for terrorism. Similarly, military expenditures are influencing terrorism positively whereas corruption has impacted terrorism negatively in the SSA region. Further, the growth of both physical as well as human capital reduces terrorism. The paper suggests that the region should take appropriate steps for increasing income of the population, education and capital stock, along with ensuring political stability to eradicate terrorism from the region.