SIR ALAN WALTERS' ROLE IN THE REVIVAL OF CURRENCY BOARDS1

In a speech given in 2004, at a meeting held at the Institute of Economic Affairs in honour of Sir Alan Walters who died in 2009, John Greenwood explains Sir Alan's critical role in the creation of a currency board in Hong Kong in 1983.     

A survey of sales management practices

When ascertaining what sales management tools and practices to use, one approach would be for sales managers to compare the tools and practices they are presently using (or contemplating) with those used in other firms. This article provides sales managers with the opportunity for such a comparison by presenting the results of a study that examined what tools and practices sales managers are currently employing.     

《阿芒提拉多的酒桶》的反讽艺术

《阿芒提拉多的酒桶》是美国作家爱伦·坡恐怖小说的一部代表作。爱伦·坡通过谐音、过度陈述、重复等语辞反讽与情景反讽手法来达到恐怖的艺术氛围,有效揭示了爱伦·坡惯于描写的恐怖、复仇、死亡等哥特主题。     

Techniques that reduce salesforce frustration

The failure of management to recognize frustration in sales personnel, or management's failure to manage frustration appropriately, can result in salespersons engaging in counter-productive behaviors that may lead to low sales productivity, a failure to achieve sales objectives, or customer ill-will. Salespeople must be equipped to work successfully in potentially frustrating situations. This article reports the results of a study that suggest which selling techniques can assist salespeople in reducing or avoiding commonly occuring frustrating sales situations.     

Economic determinants of consumer sentiment

A few objective variables explain most fluctuations in the Index of Consumer Sentiment. These relationships reveal sources of consumer satisfaction and can test hypotheses from psychological economics. The study questions the practical value of the Index to forecasters because objective data contain the same basic information. However, the Index reflected Watergate and the Arab oil embargo, and information on consumer response to such extraordinary non-systematic factors might assist forecasters. Granger causality tests support the exogeneity of certain explanatory variables and are consistent with the hypothesis that consumer sentiment affects automobile sales and purchases of consumer durables without feedback.     

Alan Rugman’s methodology

This paper argues that the intellectual contribution of Alan Rugman reflects his distinctive research methodology. Alan Rugman trained as an economist, and relied heavily on economic principles throughout his work. He believed that one good theory was sufficient for IB studies, and that theory, he maintained, was internalisation theory. He rejected theoretical pluralism, and believed that IB suffered from a surfeit of theories. Alan was a positivist. The test of a good theory was that it led to clear predictions which were corroborated by empirical evidence. Many IB theories, Alan believed, were weak; their proliferation sowed confusion and they needed to be refuted.Alan’s interpretation of internalisation was, however, unconventional in some respects. He played down the trade-offs presented in Coase’s original work, and substituted heuristics in their place. Instead of analysing internalisation as a context-specific choice between alternative contractual arrangements, he presented it as a strategic imperative for firms possessing strong knowledge advantages. His heuristics did not apply to every possible case, but in Alan’s view they applied in the great majority of cases and were therefore a basis for management action.     

Managing frustration in the sales force

In the day-to-day operations, a sales manager must solve a multitude of problems. One such problem is dealing with behavior resulting from employees' frustration. Frustration-instigated behavior is different in kind from motivated or goal-directed behavior. Failure to recognize frustration-instigated behavior in a salesperson and to respond appropriately can have serious consequences. Because a salesperson often has little control over factors affecting his performance, he is particularly susceptible to frustration. This article tells how to recognize frustrated behavior and then describes six of the most common frustrating sales situations and how to deal with them.     

Research on emerging-market multinational enterprises: Extending Alan Rugman’s critical contributions

We summarize Rugman’s contributions to the literature on emerging-market multinational enterprises (EMNEs) and propose directions to extend his work. We first review his work, where he extended his early research on international business theories to understand the nature, positioning, and activities of EMNEs. EMNEs typically exhibit home-based firm-specific advantages (FSAs) yet lack host-based and non-location-bound FSAs. Most of their sales or assets are focused on the domestic market. Given that the goals of EMNEs may conflict with or complement those of their home or host governments, EMNEs either receive government support or face regulatory barriers. We propose several directions for further research: investigating the mechanisms (e.g., international acquisitions) through which EMNEs develop strong FSAs, exploring the strategy and performance of state-owned EMNEs (vs. private EMNEs), and constructing comprehensive datasets to test the strategy and performance of EMNEs.