How symmetrical assumptions advance strategic management research

We develop the case for symmetrical assumptions in strategic management theory. Assumptional symmetry obtains when assumptions made about certain actors and their interactions in one of the application domains of a theory are also made about this set of actors and their interactions in other application domains of the theory. We argue that assumptional symmetry leads to theoretical advancement by promoting the development of theory with greater falsifiability and stronger ontological grounding. Thus, strategic management theory may be advanced by systematically searching for asymmetrical assumptions in existing theory in order to identify the instances where new and useful insights can be derived from adopting symmetrical assumptions. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Multibranded Platform Development: A Corporate Strategy with Multimanagerial Challenges

Product platforms have become a principal fundament and a prerequisite for profitable product development in almost every industry today. Since platforms have a desirable potential to reduce development and production costs, there is an extensive bulk of knowledge describing underlying platform principles and challenges. But the vast majority of the identified challenges are based on single firms and brand contexts, which imply that previous findings might not be applicable when platform development involves several brands, here called multibranded platforms. In the present article it is therefore suggested that there is lack of knowledge describing managerial challenges of multibranded platform development. To be able to capture such a strategy that holds certain complexity and unknown dimension, an explorative and longitudinal field study is supposed to achieve the finest insights into a yet incompletely documented phenomenon. Because of the field‐study approach, findings from the study are theoretically validated in relation to existing knowledge from other contributions. To start developing a multibranded product platform development framework, the present study identifies three distinctively different strategic forces that must be handled in such multibranded platform development: (1) the creation of a common architecture; (2) accomplishing product differentiation within an expanded and multibranded product scope; and (3) corporate responsibility in the transition from single‐branded to multibranded platform development. Three dimensions of managerial challenges are identified. The first is technology management challenges, which deal with commonalization in terms of the development of common multibranded architectures. The major challenge to achieve architectural commonalization is that no individuals from any brand have the proper multibranded architectural knowledge. Instead, multibranded architectures must evolve from the beginning and be founded on a new and expanded brand scope. Architectural commonalization also includes elements of unlearning since previous experiences have little relevance. The second challenge is brand management challenges and deals with brand differentiation in terms of portfolio management. Differentiation is an effect of increased diversification that particularly challenges brands of opposite generic competitive strategies. The third challenge dimension is called corporate management challenges and deals with the combination of the two others. From a corporate management perspective, it seems important to provide new organizational structures that support and combine interests of technology and brand management. Finally, multibranded platform development is a corporate strategy that affects business units and functional units thoroughly.     

Evaluating a non-linear asset pricing model on international data

The paper analyses the ability of a non-linear asset pricing model suggested by Dittmar [Dittmar, R.F., 2002. Non-linear pricing kernels, kurtosis preference, and the cross-section of equity returns. Journal of Finance 57, 369-403] to explain the returns on international value and growth portfolios. For comparison we use competing pricing models such as the ICAPM, the exchange rate risk augmented ICAPM and the international two-factor model proposed by Fama and French [Fama, E.F., French, K. R., 1998. Value versus growth: The international evidence. Journal of Finance 53, 1975-1999]. All models are evaluated both unconditionally and conditionally. The models are evaluated by applying the Hansen and Jagannathan distance measure, and we also employ several alternative measures to ensure a robust comparison of the models. We find support for the model of Dittmar [Dittmar, R.F., 2002. Non-linear pricing kernels, kurtosis preference, and the cross-section of equity returns. Journal of Finance 57, 369-403]. Evaluated conditionally, this model successfully passes all the different diagnostic tests performed in the analysis.     

The impact of strengthening agricultural extension services on women farmers: Evidence from Ethiopia

This paper evaluates the effect of the Rural Capacity Building Project (RCBP), which aimed at promoting growth by strengthening the agricultural service systems in Ethiopia, and by making them more responsive to smallholders’ needs, in particular women farmers. We examine the gender‐differentiated impact of the RCBP using panel data on 1,485 geographically dispersed households in project and control kebeles. We find that women farmers’ access and satisfaction with extension services increased significantly immediately after the start of the project, but that effect did not last into the medium term. The project led to an increase in the adoption of high‐value crop farming, area of land cultivated, and economic participation of household members, benefiting male‐ and female‐headed households equally. Results point to the positive impact of incorporating women's needs and constraints in the design of the agricultural extension system. However, the project was not able to reduce the preexisting gender gap in agricultural outcomes.     

Introducing Interface Management in New Product Family Development

Creating product platforms from which many products can easily be leveraged is an issue of increasing concern for many companies. This article introduces and explores the concept of interface management (IM) in new product platform development. IM is the distinct process of developing and defining the physical platform interfaces. The concept of IM is empirically explored in two product family development projects in the Swedish manufacturing industry that have been longitudinally studied for more than 3 years. It is proposed that firms which have a product family development approach that is associated with an extensive IM process enjoy a high degree of freedom in deciding how to balance its time to market for individual products with the beneficial utilization of design familiarities across all products. Moreover, if product managers understand and explicitly focus on the IM process, the often challenging shift from a single product development approach to a product family development approach is likely to be facilitated. © 1999 Elsevier Science Inc.     

Policies against human trafficking: the role of religion and political institutions

I investigate empirically the role of religion and political institutions in policies against human trafficking, using the new 3P Anti-trafficking Policy Index. The dataset contains 175 countries. The results show that governments in countries with Christian majorities implement stricter anti-trafficking policies than governments in countries with Muslim majorities. The differences between countries with Christian and Muslim majorities are pronounced in dictatorships but less so in democracies. For example, the 3P Anti-Trafficking Policy Index in a dictatorship with no Muslims was by 1.9 points higher than in an otherwise identical but purely Muslim dictatorship (on a scale from 3 to 15). The association between religion and the overall 3P Anti-trafficking Policy Index is driven by protection and prevention policies. As compared to prosecution policies that mainly target the perpetrators of human trafficking, protection and prevention policies mainly protect the victims of human trafficking, i.e. predominantly women. The conclusions are consistent with other empirical findings regarding the association between religion, political institutions, and human development.     

Globalization and labor market institutions: International empirical evidence

A widespread concern is that labor market institutions erode in the course of globalization, which, in turn, decreases employment and wages. By using panel data and cross-sectional data, I investigate the influence of globalization on labor market regulation. I use the indicators of labor market institutions by Gwartney et al. (2012) and the KOF indices of globalization. To deal with potential reverse causality, I employ a system GMM panel estimator and use a constructed trade share as proposed by Frankel and Romer (1999) as an instrumental variable for globalization in cross-sectional models. The results do not show that globalization induced labor market deregulation.     

Exit and Entry Over the Product Life Cycle: Evidence from the Swedish Manufacturing Industry

In this paper the process of exit and entry of firms in the Swedish manufacturing industry is investigated within the framework of the product life cycle. The product life cycle theory explains how the high degree of uncertainty, as regards product designs and production methods, which is connected to the early stages of the product life cycle requires a high level of knowledge-intensity. Since uncertainty decrease over the product life cycle, less knowledge is needed in production during later stages of the product life cycle. This implies that knowledge-intensity differs for firms that exit and enter in different stages of the product life cycle. Four hypotheses regarding these relationships are stated and empirically tested in this paper, using data at the 5-digit SIC-level for the Swedish manufacturing industry during 1990–1996. The empirical results show that entrants in the early stages of the product life cycle are more knowledge-intensive than incumbent firms. It is also found that firms exiting in early stages of the product life cycle are more knowledge-intensive than firms exiting in later stages.     

Putting our money where their mouth is: Alignment of charitable aims with charity investments – Tensions in policy and practice

Given the values-driven nature of the mission of most charities, it might be expected that investment behaviour would be similarly values-driven. This paper documents the ethical investment policies and practices of the largest UK charities and explores how these are aligned with the charitable aims, drawing upon accountability, behavioural and managerial perspectives as theoretical lenses. The study employs two distinct research methods: responses to a postal questionnaire and follow-up semi-structured interviews with selected charities. The evidence indicates that a significant minority of large charities do not have a written ethical investment policy. Charities with larger investments, fundraising charities and religious charities were more likely to have a written ethical policy. We suggest that there is a pressing need for improved alignment between charities' aims and their investment practices and better monitoring of investment policies.