It is not whom you know,it is how well you know them: Foreign entrepreneurs building close guanxi relationships

Within the growing body of Chinese entrepreneurship literature, guanxi is increasingly recognized as an important indigenous Chinese business practice with important implications for firm performance and success. Guanxi is defined as relationship or connection. China’s continued economic growth and forecasts of it becoming one of the world’s largest consumer markets present multinational corporations and foreign entrepreneurs alike with unprecedented economic opportunities. Thus, greater insight is required into how foreign entrepreneurs, as outsiders, establish and develop close guanxi relationships. Conceptualizing guanxi as a dynamic process, this paper explores the underlying interactions and processes foreign entrepreneurs engage in to establish and build a strong emotional connection and trust with their closest guanxi partner. Using an exploratory single case study approach, data from 15 foreign entrepreneurs operating legally registered small- and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) in Shanghai was collected and analyzed. In addition, self-administered structured questionnaires that utilize the McAllister trust scale were used to measure 20 foreign entrepreneurs’ levels of cognitive and affective trust toward their closest guanxi partner. Overall, the findings of the study provide an in-depth understanding of the complex interplay and functioning of third-party and anticipatory bases. In so doing, the study’s outsider perspective addresses a critical gap in the literature that yields initial yet important insights that contribute to a better understanding and appreciation of the inherent nuances and differences in relationship-building processes in cross-cultural settings. Furthermore, these findings bring to the fore the need to consider the ways in which this indigenous Chinese business practice may be evolving in the face of increasing internationalization.     

Fisher’s Effect: An Empirical Examination Using India’s Time Series Data

The study examines the Fisher’s hypothesis using India’s macroeconomic data with main objective of ascertaining the empirical relationship between nominal interest rate and expected inflation. The study collected monthly time series data on interest rate (lending rate) and CPI growth rate (inflation) from Reserve Bank of India’s database spanning from 1990M01 to 2015M03. To achieve the objective, the study first examined the univariate stochastic properties of the series using test that assumed the presence of structural: Zivot and Andrews (J Bus Econ Stat 10(3):251–270, 1992) and Perron (J Econ 80:355–385, 1997) on one hand and those that assumed no break: Elliot et al. (Econometrica 64:813–836, 1996) and Kwiatkowski et al. (J Econom 54:159–178, 1992) on the other hand. The result for the univariate stochastic properties revealed that inflation is level stationary whereas lending rate is differenced stationary. This finding is consistent with the two tests considered as mentioned above. To examined the Fisher’s effect, given the result of the univariate stochastic properties, the study checked the multivariate counterpart using test that assumed break; Gregory and Hensen (J Econom 70:99–126, 1996) and the one that assumed no break; Pesaran et al. (J Appl Econom 16:289–326, 2001). The result reveals the absence of long run equilibrium between nominal interest rate and inflation for the full and sub-samples which is against Fisher’s proposition. This finding can be attributed to the following reasons: firstly, the conduct of monetary policy by RBI is passive; that is, the policy rate response less than proportionate to change in inflation. Secondly, the presence of distortion in the interest rate pass-through channel makes the sign, speed and magnitude of monetary policy uncertain and finally, the dominant of informal financial sector in India that makes short term policy rate ineffective monetary policy instrument. Therefore the study concludes that the conduct of monetary policy is responsible for the rejection of Fisher’s hypothesis in India.

     

Knowledge spillovers and high-impact growth: Comparing local and foreign firms in the UK

This paper is concerned with entrepreneurial high-impact firms, which are firms that generate ‘both’ disproportionate levels of employment and sales growth, and have high levels of innovative activity. It investigates differences in the influence of knowledge spillovers on high-impact growth between foreign and local firms in the UK. The study is based on an analysis of data from UK Innovation Scoreboard on 865 firms, which were divided into ‘high-impact firms’ (defined as those achieving positive growth in both sales and employment) and low-impact firms (negative or no growth in sales or employment). More precisely, the paper investigates the influence of knowledge spillovers on high-impact growth of foreign and local firms, from regional, sectoral and firm size perspectives. The findings suggest that (1) firms’ access to regional knowledge spillovers (from businesses and higher education institutions) is more significantly associated with high-impact growth of local firms in comparison to foreign firms; (2) because knowledge spillovers are more likely to occur in high-tech sectors (compared to low-tech sectors), firms in high-tech sectors are more associated with high-impact growth. Nonetheless, the relationship is stronger for local firms compared to foreign firms; (3) because small firms have greater need for knowledge spillovers (relative to large firms), there is a negative relationship between firm size and high-impact growth, but the negative relationship is greater for UK firms in comparison to foreign firms. Implications are drawn for policy and research.     

Tolerance for workplace incivility,employee cynicism and job search behavior

Workplace incivility is a source of predominant stress in organizations, and a vital cause for job search behavior (JSB). Drawing upon conservation resource theory, this paper examines the relationship between tolerance for workplace incivility (TWI), JSB and cynicism among employed individuals. Utilizing data obtain from n?=?331 hotel employees in Jordan, a structural equation modeling was applied. The data revealed that (1) TWI has a positive impact on JSB; (2) that cynicism has a positive impact on JSB and (3) and that cynicism does not moderate the relationship between TWI and JSB. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

The Impact of Brain Drain on Human Capital in Developing Countries

The debate over the effect of human capital flight on educational attainment in immigrants' source countries has received huge theoretical propositions but a few analytical approaches. This paper examines the short‐run and long‐run impact of skilled migration rates (brain drain) on human capital formation in migrants' source developing countries. Specifically, we revisited some empirical studies that found evidence of beneficial brain drain in migrants' source countries. Our empirical result, using school enrolments does not only disagree with theirs but also presents an insight on how human capital leakages that occur through brain drain can be counterbalanced through remittances received in the immigrants' source countries.     

Inventory ordering policies of delayed deteriorating items under permissible delay in payments

The existing literature on inventory of deteriorating items considers deterioration to begin as soon as the items are stocked. However, there are several deteriorating items that do not start deteriorating immediately they are held in stock. Some farm produce like potatoes, yams and even some fruits and vegetables have this property. Depletion of these items as soon as they are stocked will depend on demand, and when deterioration begins, it will depend on both demand and deterioration. In this paper, we develop a mathematical model on the inventory of deteriorating items that do not start deteriorating immediately they are stocked. The model also takes into cognizance the fact that in business activities nowadays customers are given some allowed period within which to settle for the goods supplied to them. They can use the accrued money from sales of the supplied goods to earn interest within the allowed period. They are charged interest only when they fail to settle the amount they owe the supplier at the end of the allowed period.     

Foreign direct investment and entrepreneurship: Does the role of institutions matter?

Development economics, international business, and entrepreneurship literature suggest that foreign direct investment (FDI) has significant positive spillover effects for entrepreneurial activities of host economies. However, the findings of past research are mixed, and they do not always confirm this suggestion. We argue that the reason for conflicting findings may be because of an incomplete understanding of the factors that influence the FDI-entrepreneurship nexus in different contexts. Previous studies have carried out only limited exploration of the contingencies in the FDI and domestic entrepreneurship relationship that may depend on the host country’s institutional capacity. We argue that not all countries can reap the rewards from FDI equally. Rather, we hypothesize that countries need to have a sufficient degree of institutional capacity relevant to specific conditions and appropriate threshold levels to successfully capture the positive spillover effects of FDI on domestic entrepreneurship. Utilizing panel data from 2006 to 2016 for 97 emerging markets, developing and developed countries (at different income levels), and a System Generalized Method of Moments (SGMM) estimator that controls for instrument proliferation in dealing with endogeneity problems, we test this hypothesis. We find that FDI has a negative (crowding-out) effect on domestic entrepreneurship at below-threshold levels of institutional capacity, and a positive (crowding-in) effect at above-threshold levels of institutional capacity. The crowding-out effect diminishes as the institutional capacity changes or improves to meet mutating economic environment conditions. Our findings are robust across a wide range of aggregate and disaggregate measures of different types of institutions and alternative empirical strategies.     

Measuring entrepreneurial orientation and institutional theory for informal enterprises: scale validation

Quality & Quantity - The importance of institutional factors and entrepreneurial orientation is widely recognized in the study of entrepreneurship development, leading to the development of...     

The impact of interactive and diagnostic levers of eco-control on eco-innovation: The mediating role of employee environmental citizenship behaviour

The study contributes to the management control system (MCS), environmental and behavioural reaction literature by examining the mediating role of employee environmental citizenship behaviour on the association between the interactive and diagnostic use of eco-control with eco-innovation. Based on an empirical analysis of 406 Australian organisations, the results indicate that employee environmental citizenship behaviour mediates the effect of both the interactive and diagnostic use of eco-control on eco-innovation (specifically, eco-product innovation). The findings highlight the importance of eco-controls and employee behaviour, specifically employee environmental citizenship behaviour, in influencing eco-innovation.