Cooperative strategies in international business and management: Reflections on the past 50 years and future directions

Over the past 50 years, cooperative forms of governance such as equity joint ventures and other strategic alliances have received tremendous attention in international business and management research. This article traces the history of this research over these past five decades with particular emphasis on the critical role that (Columbia) Journal of World Business has played in disseminating scholarly and managerial expertise on the successful management of cross-border, inter-firm collaboration. We highlight the evolution of interest in different contexts, phenomena, theories, and methodologies, along with the factors that have driven interest in these topics. Several suggestions for future research are also provided.     

Foreign Plants and Industry Productivity: Evidence from Chile

This paper presents new evidence on foreign plants and their effects on a host industry. I test the predictions of a Melitz‐type model using a panel of domestic and foreign plants in the Chilean manufacturing sector. Foreign ownership is a strong predictor of plant productivity and size advantages. Moreover, productivity gains for a domestic incumbent are positively associated with foreign plants' presence in the same industry and region. I also find a positive correlation between foreign entry and exit of less productive domestic plants, but inconclusive evidence on the effects on productivity of new domestic plants.     

Control and co-ordination of Japanese subsidiaries in China: problems of an expatriate-based management system

This paper analyses the international management control (IMC) system that Japanese multinational companies (MNCs) employ to co-ordinate the activities of their subsidiaries in China. It focuses on the role of Japanese expatriates in this IMC system and assesses their performance. In the process, it offers a comprehensive evaluation of the organizational fit of the Japanese IMC model within the current Chinese business environment. Taking Japanese firms as the subject, the analysis identifies areas of incongruity and explains the underlying reasons for problems with expatriate-focused IMC models. In doing so, this paper argues that the Japanese expatriate-based control system in China (as in many other parts of the world) continues to be characterized by an insider-outsider mentality that prevents a real internationalization of overseas operations in the 'transnational' sense.     

东亚“雁阵模式”式微原因新析及启示

经济全球化时代,维系“雁阵模式”运行的宏观背景条件正在丧失,“雁阵模式”开始走向终结。日本经济的“制度疲劳”、“四小龙”的兴起、中国的崛起以及亚洲金融危机只是“雁阵模式”式微的表层原因,其真正原因是经济全球化及其机制的作用:即全球信息化、世界经济一体化、跨国公司的发展、知识经济在世界范围的兴起,成为“雁阵模式”终结的力量。“雁阵模式”的终结对于中国产业结构调整与优化,具有重要启示作用。     

Transnational corporations' strategies and foreign trade patterns in MERCOSUR countries in the 1990s

Market-seeking strategies predominate in the recent FDI boomin MERCOSUR countries. In the trade performance of transnationalcorporation affiliates a sort of ‘asymmetric integration’is clearly visible: they produce for the internal market and,to some extent, for the regional one, while import inputs andfinal goods from developed countries (and a significant partof these trade flows is intra-firm). Thus, even if affiliatesobtained productivity gains in the 1990s, they have not yetbeen reflected in a significant increase in exports, and evenless in extra-regional exports. Hence, the foreign direct investmentboom seemingly has not yet contributed to a better insertionof MERCOSUR countries into the world economy.     

澳大利亚税源管理及对我国的启示

随着经济全球化步伐的不断加快,来华跨国公司的数量和规模也随之扩大。如何对跨国公司进行有效的税源管理,成为我国税务部门日益关注的问题。澳大利亚税源管理体系十分严密、高效,其对跨国公司税源管理的经验对我国加强税源管理工作具有借鉴意义,主要表现在以下方面:重视信息化手段在税源管理中的应用;加强税务部门与其他政府部门的合作,广泛收集税源信息;按企业规模分类实行税源监控;充分发挥中介机构在税源管理中的作用。     

Knowledge embeddedness and the transfer mechanisms in multinational corporations

This paper reports a qualitative study conducted at four Japanese subsidiaries in China and Vietnam about their process of international knowledge transfer. Building on the literatures concerning the diverse types and characteristics of knowledge in multinational corporations (MNCs), we explore the broad mechanisms adopted and locally generated by the host country subsidiaries for transferring the foreign knowledge and putting the locally embedded knowledge into practical use at the local settings. The findings indicated (1) the limitations of applying a standardized and universal set of knowledge transfer mechanisms without considering local idiosyncrasies and (2) the contributions of local agents and institutions throughout the process of local knowledge adaptation and development.     

Capital structure effects of international expansion

This study investigates and qualifies the impact of internationalization on the capital structure of a firm. Previous studies have associated firm internationalization with foreign sales or foreign assets. However, an increase in sales volume generated abroad does not necessarily mean that a firm has actually invested in a new foreign country. This study examines non-financial firms included in the main developed stock indexes that report a new geographical area of operation. It reveals that, at less advanced levels of internationalization, growth in foreign volumes and new geographic expansion lead to differential decision-making in capital structure choices.This study concludes that (1) when the target foreign market is developed, the new market entry does not lead to significant changes in capital structure, whatever the past experience of the firm. (2) The capital structure of well-diversified firms is not significantly modified following a new foreign entry. (3) Both domestic firms and firms only active in developed markets significantly increase their debt to equity ratio when expanding into a region or country where they had no operation before. Well-diversified firms clearly exhibit a different behavior compared to firms in less advanced levels of internationalization.     

专业服务业跨国公司全球资源的利用研究

专业服务业是一个比较特殊的服务领域,它具有许多特殊的性质。本文试图从全球资源利用的角度对专业服务业跨国公司进行探讨,分析专业服务企业资源特性,并针对专业服务业跨国公司的全球经营优势,对其全球资源利用进行研究。     

How Japan–US Economic Interdependence Changed from 1985 to 1990: Some Findings from Price-adjusted MITI Intercountry Input–Output Tables

This paper consists of two parts. First, constant-price Japan–US intercountry input–output (IO) tables are compiled, based on Japan–US IO tables of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) for 1985 and 1990, and the relative producer prices of both countries, which are estimated by the ‘peeling off’ method from OECD purchasing power parity data. Second, a factor decomposition analysis is carried out to show changes in Japan–US economic interdependence between 1985 and 1990. The Leontief inverse matrices of intercountry IO tables are decomposed into three matrices, which reflect domestic repercussion effects, spillover effects to the other country and feedback effects of own final demand from the other country. Then, a traditional decomposition analysis of changes in production for both countries is applied to see how both countries' economic interdependence changed. It is found that Japan–US economic interdependence moved from a pattern of Japan's dependence on the US to an almost equally interdependent pattern, although the degree of dependence was still higher in Japan in 1990. At the same time, there are significant industrial structural changes in the relationship between both countries, as a result of the significant appreciation of the yen relative to the dollar from 1985 to 1990.