Deterrence or Conflict Spiral Effect? Exercise of Coercive Power in Marketing Channels: Evidence from China

Purpose: The article aims to test the appropriateness of deterrence and conflict spiral models in marketing channels. Both models have been alternatively used as bases to explain firms’ power-related behaviors in marketing channels. However, the issue of the appropriateness of such an application in various contexts has not yet been addressed.

Methodology/approach: The authors develop the hypotheses based on deterrence theory and their alternatives based on conflict spiral theory. They gather data from 204 sales representatives of suppliers in China and use linear regression analysis to test their hypotheses versus alternatives.

Empirical findings: The data analysis offers supportive evidence for the deterrence logic but with unexpected results. By elaborating on the empirical results, the original assumption of deterrence theory, and the nature of interfirm relationship in marketing channels, the authors modify the deterrence model for research on power related-behaviors in the given context. The analysis implies a possible explanation for inconsistent findings in the literature regarding exercises of coercive power.

Originality/value/contribution: This article proposes a revised deterrence model that can interpret the empirical results with a consistent logic and better predict power-related behaviors in marketing channels.

Research limitations/implications: The research results may lack generalizability with respect to channel type and culture. It does not directly test the cognitive mechanisms that mediate the impact of power on its exercise. Researchers are encouraged to directly test the mediating constructs in other channels or countries.

Practical implications: The article includes some insights and implications for managers in understanding power structure and implementing influence strategies in business-to-business marketing.     

Joint Venture Formation and Internationalization: A Japanese MNEs' Perspective

This article examines relationships among top-management-team composition, group processes, and the effects of those processes on cohesion for international joint venture teams in Thailand. For culturally diverse teams, demographic elements (member age, length of team tenure, level of education, functional expertise) and cultural characteristics (country of education, nationality, affiliation with a parent organization, primary language spoken) define heterogeneity. Overall, demographic heterogeneity had a significant influence on openness among team members and on cohesion when mediated by openness. Cultural heterogeneity had a significant influence on openness and cohesion among team members, with loyalty and openness having a significant influence on cohesion.     

Influence of International Trade Agreements on International Business: A Conceptual Model

The article provides a conceptual model, developed from analyzing over fifty trade agreement related research studies published during the last decade, which allows international business scholars to explore the influence of trade agreements (custom unions, free trade agreements, preferential trade agreements, regional trade agreements) on foreign market entry strategies. This model is an attempt to develop IB theory to address the current research gap in this very narrow but important allied field. Empirical findings generated by interviewing dairy produce exporters in New Zealand reveal a remarkable connection between TAs and IB, with TAs found to influence the regulative environment of participating countries, which may in turn reduce the regulative distance between member nations. The contribution provides a basis for IB researchers to explore this connection in multiple industries/countries.     

The Dissemination of Marketing Knowledge in a Newly Emerging Democracy

No abstract available for this article.     

Foreign Direct Investment Motives and Marketing Strategies in Central and Eastern Europe

Summary

Foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows are of crucial importance for the process of reintegration of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) in the global marketplace. This paper explores the motives of foreign investors, host governments, and host companies in the FDI process taking place in CEE. The degree to which the motives of the three parties have been achieved is evaluated. The motives of foreign investors, host governments, and host companies are related to the strategic priorities of the FDI companies. The way in which these priorities have been realized is discussed. Recommendations for foreign investors' behavior in the CEE context are presented at the end of the article. The research data come from four countries: Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, and Slovenia.     

The Effect of Corruption on Exports and Imports in Latin America and the Caribbean

International trade, in particular exports and imports, are regarded as important factors that can increase the economic development of the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries. However, little is known whether the ability of these countries to strengthen their global positions in trade can be affected by the pervasiveness of local corruption. The objective of this study is to analyze the impact of corruption on exports and imports in LAC countries. Our empirical results from the gravity model indicate that local corruption strongly reduces exports in the region. Thus, we conclude that LAC would be able to achieve more export growth if corruption in the region was effectively reduced.     

Multinational corporate website strategies and influencing factors: A comparison of US and Korean corporate websites

This study, using a content analysis method, explored whether and to what extent multinational corporate websites targeting different markets are standardized. It also tested three organizational factors – country of origin, company size, and product type – for their potential influence on the level of corporate website standardization. A sample of 52 top US-based multinational companies and 52 Korea-based multinational companies was drawn and a total of 104 pairs of websites for these companies were content-analyzed. Overall, the degree of website standardization was not significantly different between companies based in the two countries. The results suggest that both US and Korean multinational corporations tend to maintain their websites in a similar way when targeting the home and foreign markets. Among the three organizational factors, only product type – B2B versus B2C products and durables versus non-durables – was found to be significantly associated with the level of website standardization. This study makes important contributions to the research literature by offering new information on the current state of multinational corporate website strategies and advancing our knowledge about international marketing communications on the Internet and influencing factors.     

Conflict and Innovation in International Joint Ventures: Toward a New Sinified Corporate Culture or ‘Alternative Globalization’ in China

Deng Xiaoping's open-door economic policy provides an opportunity for international economic cooperation and development. Our study attempts to investigate how conflicts between Chinese workers and foreign investors as manifested in human resources management arise, evolve and get resolved in Sino–foreign joint ventures. It hypothesizes that conflicts as such can be functional or dysfunctional and that both partners believe that it is in their best interest to resolve the conflicts. The conflict resolution process witnesses all parties engaging in a process of purposeful learning and unlearning and creating a new sinified corporate culture that best suits the evolving business culture and social milieu in China today – as China experiments with the idea of developing socialism with Chinese characteristics. The guiding conceptual framework of our study is that of convergence theory. We argue that the socio-economic and cultural convergence between China and the West has produced a common hybrid of cross-cultural innovations in China or, in a global perspective, ‘alternative cultural globalization’. This hybridizing convergence is best exemplified by the gradual localization and sinification of the Western corporate culture in Sino–foreign enterprises in China today.     

Acquisition of managerial knowledge from foreign parents: evidence from Korean joint ventures

This paper contributes to the literature on intra- and inter-firm knowledge transfer by examining knowledge acquisition by Korean international joint ventures from their foreign parents. A conceptual model is presented which identifies the factors that have been found to influence knowledge transfer, organised into variables related to the local recipient firm, the foreign sender firm and the relationship between the two. The model is examined by means of a series of multiple regressions using a sample of 128 Korean international joint ventures. We find that: (1) the international joint ventures intent to learn and international experience; (2) the level of trust between parents and their business relatedness; and (3) the active managerial engagement of the foreign parent are the most important factors explaining the level of knowledge acquisition within the international joint ventures.     

附加值贸易统计方法视角下的中国外贸发展状况

2013年1月16日,WTO与OECD共同推出了利用附加值统计方法计算出来的贸易数据,为重新测量国际贸易提供了新的视角。本文在诠释附加值贸易统计方法的内涵的基础上,分析了附加值贸易统计方法所带来的经济意义,通过对比传统贸易数据和附加值贸易数据,剖析了在附加值贸易统计方法下我国的对外贸易发展状况,并提出了该方法对我国对外贸易的发展启示。