Knowledge management and innovation strategy in the Asia Pacific: Toward an institution-based view

The emergence of knowledge-intensive society has changed the nature of business competition. Knowledge management becomes an important managerial task and formulating a sound innovation strategy is an integral part of strategic management. Adopting an institution-based view, this article argues that the institutional environment in the Asia Pacific region plays a multi-faceted role behind firms’ knowledge management and innovation strategy. Specifically, institutions impose rules for legitimacy, serve as a source of knowledge, and allocate incentives and resources for innovation. We believe that future research drawing on the institution-based view has significant potential to advance our understanding of knowledge management and innovation strategy in Asia Pacific firms.

Global Financial Integration and Real Estate Security Returns

Have globalization and increasing economic and financial integration affected the rates of return of publicly traded real estate companies around the world? Using a set of multifactor models for annual data for 946 firms from 16 countries over the sample period, 1995–2002, we estimate the impact of a country's economic openness on returns of publicly traded real estate firms, controlling for the effects of global capital markets, domestic macroeconomic conditions and firm‐specific variables. We find that a country's real estate security excess (risk‐adjusted) returns are negatively related to its openness. The results are robust across different multifactor model specifications and are a testament to increasing global financial integration and its interplay with the real estate sector.     

Using users: When does external knowledge enhance corporate product innovation?

Prior research on corporate innovation highlights the importance of accessing external knowledge from other firms and universities. However, survey evidence indicates that product users are perhaps the most important source of external knowledge. We build on existing theory to identify the conditions under which user knowledge contributes to corporate innovation and when the benefits will be greatest. Using a panel dataset of medical device companies and their collaborative efforts with innovative physicians, we find evidence that inventive collaborations with users enhance corporate product innovation and that the benefits are greatest in new technology areas and in the generation of radical innovations. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Co-innovation in networks of resources — A case study in the Chinese exhibition industry

This work explores how network partners collaborate to innovate and innovate to collaborate and thereby achieve value. The innovation processes analyzed are within an IJV in the Chinese exhibition industry. The findings highlight that the IJV's development of a successful trade show resulted from effective co-innovation by partners which enabled the exploitation of opportunities in an industry characterized by rapid growth and continuing structural change. Partner co-innovation enabled evolving strategic and operational capabilities which has led to continued and growing market success. This co-innovation involved the targeted co-mingling of partner resources which creates value that motivated continued cooperation. The effectiveness of the partners' activities is evidenced by the growing size and prestige of their large-scale trade show as well as the expansion of the IJV into other endeavors. The paper concludes by considering the way these innovative processes can be applied in other contexts.     

The sales recovery audit: Learning to walk the talk

Little research attention has been devoted to the impact of salesperson failure and recovery management on customer relationship development. This paper develops a theoretically anchored and externally validated sales recovery audit for the purpose of assessing sales organization performance in these matters. Results based on a survey of 177 sales managers indicate that practice of sales recovery efforts lags behind their perceived importance as they relate to organizational success. The sales recovery audit presented here can be a useful tool to continuously evaluate and enhance sales recovery efforts for the purpose of building a stronger relationship selling organization.     

Does the Stock Market Compensate Banks for Diversifying into the Insurance Business?

This paper explores a wide range of corporate restructurings, all available deals from wire services, in the banking and insurance sectors that led to bancassurance ventures. An event study methodology is employed to calculate excess returns on and around the deals’ announcement date. Using both univariate and multivariate analysis the paper finds bank driven mergers, deal's size and regional categorization all triggering positive and significant market reactions. Unlike the univariate framework, multivariate analysis shows that geographic focus and language are not significant factors. The results also indicate that markets are indifferent with respect to bank withdrawals from the bank‐insurance operations. Finally, Canadian, U.S. and European bank‐insurance deals produce positive results, while Australasian bidders offer statistically insignificant equity returns.     

Longevity Risk Management in Singapore's National Pension System

Although annuities are a theoretically appealing way to manage longevity risk, in the real world relatively few consumers purchase them at retirement. To counteract the possibility of retirees outliving their assets, Singapore's Central Provident Fund, a national defined contribution pension scheme, has recently mandated annuitization of workers’ retirement assets. More significantly, the government has entered the insurance market as a public‐sector provider for such annuities. This article evaluates the money's worth of life annuities and discusses the impact of the government mandate and its role as an annuity provider on the insurance market.     

Reflections on Private Water Supply: Agency and Equity Issues

In the second of the two articles, the authors reflect on and extend their earlier work by describing recent trends in water privatization, drawing important lessons from cases where privatization efforts have failed, offering suggestions about the way privatized firms can be successfully monitored, and addressing the popular argument that “fairness” demands that water be distributed by public firms at a zero (or heavily subsidized) price.