National culture, networks and ethnic entrepreneurship: A comparison of the Indian and Chinese immigrants in the US

This paper uses a combination of national cultural frameworks and social capital theory to explain the formation and management of entrepreneurial ventures among immigrant communities. The varying rates of venture formation and performance among different ethnic groups points to the role that the different dimensions of culture play in how immigrants use their social networks to start such firms. We use the specific example of the Indian and Chinese communities in the US to demonstrate this effect and explain how businesses created by members of these communities could have potentially different ways of starting and operating that can be directly traced to the differences in cultural orientation of their owners. What emerges can be summarized as: (a) different immigrant communities have different ways of accumulating and using social capital in starting and managing their ethnic ventures; (b) these dissimilarities manifest themselves in variations in the motives for forming these ventures, human resource practices and termination rates; and (c) that these variations can partly be explained by the differences in their respective national cultures.     

DHL Bangladesh: Managing headquarters‐subsidiary relations. Comment on DHL Bangladesh: Managing headquarters‐subsidiary relations

This case revolves around Nurul Rahman, a DHL Bangladesh (DHLB) manager who must recommend which of the two human resource information systems (HRISs) DHLB should adopt to alleviate the escalating workload on its human resources (HR) department. The choice between these systems is difficult: the HRIS favored by regional headquarters is significantly more expensive and likely unsuited to DHLB's unique needs, whereas the HRIS favored by DHLB—although likely effective —seems to be incapable of meeting headquarters' strong preference for streamlining human resource systems across disparate Asian subsidiaries. Rahman must carefully balance conflicting stakeholder interests and do so against the backdrop of a politically powerful headquarters that can “make or break” managerial careers. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Intellectual capital reporting practices in an Islamic bank: A case study

Given the nature and importance of Islamic banks in recent times, we can expect them to have significant intellectual capital anchored in their Sharia‐based knowledge and expertise. However, we know very little or nothing about how and why intellectual capital‐related information is provided in their corporate reports. We fill this gap in our existing knowledge of the field with a view to enhance relevant literature. As far as we know, this article is one of the earliest exploratory attempts to examine intellectual capital reporting practices of an Islamic bank. We have undertaken a longitudinal (2001–2015) case study related to the intellectual capital reporting practices of an Islamic bank. Key results include significant rise of intellectual capital reporting over time, dominance of internal capital‐related items in intellectual capital reporting profile and the dynamics of changes in intellectual capital reporting practices over time. Through an institutional theory lens, we explain that this is due to the changes in the external institutional environment and various intra‐organisational factors such as strong ethical culture, unique knowledge base (Sharia), and corporate governance regime.     

Global competitiveness,consumer choice and ‘country of origin’ effect: an exploratory East–West study

As protectionist sentiments rise in many countries in light of the 2008–2009 financial crisis, it is more important than ever to understand the potential role of homophily on the country of origin (COO) effect in consumer purchases and how it can impact trade and investment. This study examines these attitudes using a sample of 139 university students from different ethnic backgrounds in Vancouver (Canada), one of the most culturally diverse cities in North America. The results confirm the importance of ethnicity in affecting attitudes toward different countries, including the impact of political/cultural ties and current/historical events on their formation. Variations among different ethnic groups were found, however.     

Guilt, Shame, and Reparative Behavior: The Effect of Psychological Proximity

Research has paid scant attention to reparative behavior to compensate for unintended wrongdoing or to the role of emotions in doing the right thing. We propose a new approach to investigating reparative behavior by looking at moral emotions and psychological proximity. In this study, we compare the effects of moral emotions (guilt and shame) on the level of compensation for financial harm. We also investigate the role of transgressors’ perceived psychological proximity to the victims of wrongdoing. Our hypotheses were tested through a scenario based questionnaire on a sample of 261 participants. Analyses indicate that (1) guilt has a stronger effect on the level of compensation than shame; (2) psychological proximity influences the level of guilt, shame, and compensation; and (3) shame interacts with psychological proximity to predict compensation, whereas guilt mediates the relationship between psychological proximity and compensation.     

Income differences among elderly in Malaysia: a regional comparison

Malaysian economic development, formally launched in 1970 through a series of 5‐year development plans, has tremendously improved the quality of life of its citizens. Unfortunately, varying degrees of regional development that lead to regional imbalances produce differential impact on different sets of population in each region. This is especially true for the poverty‐prone groups, which include the elderly, women and children. This study attempts to assess regional differences (between West and East Malaysia) in the well‐being of the elderly as indicated by the income inequality. Specifically, the objectives of this study are to identify sources of elderly income, to determine the mean monthly income and to examine elderly income disparity in the three regions of Peninsular, Sabah, and Sarawak in Malaysia. A total of 2327 elderly respondents were randomly selected nationwide using the stratified random sampling technique. The study indicated that generally, the income of the elderly in Malaysia is very low as most of them had received no formal education or had only obtained primary school education. In terms of income disparity, the elderly income distribution in Sabah showed an interesting pattern, whereby a high percentage of the elderly was clustered in the bottom 20 and top 20 percentile. However, the distribution of the elderly in Peninsular Malaysia was clustered around the bottom 40 percentile, the middle 60 and the top 40 percentile.     

Bicultural identity and economic engagement: An exploratory study of the Indian diaspora in North America

This study examines the role that the bicultural identity of members of an ethnic diaspora (the Indian diaspora in Canada and the United States) can play in affecting the level of economic engagement between their country of residence (COR) and country of origin (COO). Specifically, it examines how differences in bicultural identity can explain the varying levels of engagement by diasporic members in different trade and investment facilitation behaviors, and how the different components of bicultural identity, cultural distance, and cultural conflict, could affect the level of economic engagement between the diasporic members’ COR and COO. Results indicate that cultural distance and cultural conflict and their interaction do have a significant impact on economic engagement behaviors; these effects are complex and multifaceted and are mediated by the diaspora’s social networks in both the COR and COO.     

Conceptualizing Consumer Ethnocentrism in a Developing Country: Validity and Applicability of CETSCALE in Bangladesh

This article argues that the traditional belief that “consumer ethnocentrism is a phenomenon of the developed countries only” is no longer true. To establish this argument, this study assesses the applicability of the Consumer Ethnocentric Tendencies Scale (CETSCALE) to a developing country Bangladesh. The methodology is based on 788 samples collected from 27 districts of Bangladesh. Results show that for three chosen sociodemographic groups namely, students, job holders, and businessmen, the CETSCALE is to a much extent applicable as the groups have shown positive attitudes in retaining 12 to 14 items out of the 17 items of the original scale.     

Leveraging the Diaspora for Africa’s Economic Development

ABSTRACT

African countries need to engage their diasporas in industrialized countries to provide much needed human, social, and financial capital to help with their economic development. For Africa’s economies to successfully transition from their current state of commodity-dominated production to high value-added production, governments in the continent must design and implement strategies to harness their grossly underutilized diaspora in developed countries. For the most part, the diaspora’s contribution to development has been viewed only in terms of remittances that go primarily to support families. In this paper, we provide a broad overview of some of the diaspora friendly policies that can help engage the African diaspora in the economic development of their respective countries of origin (COOs). Governments in the COOs need to move beyond seeing the diaspora as simply a source for remittances, and engage them in a meaningful way to provide them with a sustainable competitive advantage in the global battle for talent. There needs to be a move beyond simple calls to patriotism, and into engagement that leads to a mutually beneficial relationship between the diaspora and its COO. We conclude by pointing out some of the steps that can be taken in this regard to engage with the diaspora in a mutually beneficial relationship.     

A Reconceptualization of Entrepreneurial Orientation in an Emerging Market Insurance Company

The authors examine how entrepreneurial firms gain competitive advantage and hence entrepreneurial success by optimizing their dynamic capabilities. Using a single case design, incorporating in-depth interviews with key informants within an insurance company in Ghana, the authors attempt to highlight the limitations of an existing model. Their key proposition is that the growth and profitability exhibited in the case study are largely attributable to its ability to leverage its entrepreneurial orientation. They argue, therefore, that despite the ability of the resource-based view to translate into competitive advantage at the firm level, it falls short of longer-term competitive advantages and entrepreneurial success—especially in the financial services sector with homogeneous product offerings.