Variations in human resource management in Asian countries: MNC home-country and host-country effects

This paper investigates the determinants of HRM strategy in a random sample of firms operating in Korea and Taiwan. Both indigenous and foreign-owned firms are studied. HRM strategy is measured in terms of the company's reliance on high-performance, versus more traditional, HRM policies and practices in several different areas, including staffing, employee influence, employee rewards and employee autonomy. Independent variables include the firm's country or region of origin (USA, Japan, Europe, Korea or Taiwan), the host country (Korea or Taiwan) and the internal culture of the firm, as measured by upper management's perception that human resources constitute a significant source of value for the organization. Pronounced differences are found across countries of origin and between the two host countries. Managerial values and various organizational characteristics that serve as control variables are also found to impact on HRM strategy.     

A Test of Strategic Trade Policy in the Semiconductor Industry: The Impact of Japanese Policy on U.S. Firms

This paper analyzes a multinational corporation that may use tax evasion and profit shifting as a means to minimize tax liabilities. Our main finding is that profit shifting may occur even when tax rates are the same across countries. This will be the case whenever there is a tax differential in effective tax rates resulting from differences in tax enforcement. In this context, profit shifting occurs to enable tax evasion in a country where tax enforcement is less harsh. Moreover, for a given differential in tax rates, differences in tax enforcement may either accentuate or dampen profit shifting. Importantly, the predictions regarding the direction of profit shifting that would result in our set-up may contrast sharply with those of the preceding literature.     

石油企业集团跨国经营财务风险的对策研究

在我国石油企业跨国经营过程中,财务风险的严峻性日益凸显。目前我国石油企业集团跨国经营呈现区域广泛、业务范围复杂等特点,取得了突出的成果,同时面临严峻的石油价格风险、汇率风险、经济和投资风险。有必要从建立财务预警机制、监控海外投资风险、运用金融衍生工具避险等几方面对跨国经营中的财务风险进行有效防范和控制。     

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.     

Does market orientation matter?: a test of the relationship between positional advantage and performance

A recent series of articles in the Strategic Management Journal has discussed the potential value of an organization developing a market orientation in its quest to achieve success. We posit that market orientation can enhance success, but that its potential value should not be considered in isolation. Specifically, we draw on the resource‐based view of the firm to suggest that four capabilities—market orientation, entrepreneurship, innovativeness, and organizational learning—each contribute to the creation of positional advantages for some firms. The data used are drawn from 181 large multinational corporations (MNC). The results indicate that positional advantages arising from the confluence of market orientation, entrepreneurship, innovativeness, and organizational learning have a positive effect on MNC performance (five‐year average change in ROI, income, and stock price). Overall, the results support the contention that market orientation can enhance success, albeit within the context of other important phenomena. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

提升企业竞争力的对策

提升企业竞争力是新经济时代企业普遍关注的焦点。就如何提升企业的竞争力进行了较为深入的探讨，提出了一些提高企业竞争力的对策，具有一定的前瞻性和借鉴性。     

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.