International Business Commons^™

The Balanced Scorecard At Philips Electronics, Andra Gumbus, Bridget M. Lyons

WCBT Faculty Publications

The drive to implement the balanced scorecard at Philips Electronics came from the top down - as a directive from the Board of Management in Europe to all Philips divisions and companies worldwide. The directive went to each of the companies and their quality departments, with the effort in the medical division headed by the Quality Steering Committee that reports to the president of Philips Medical Systems. Philips Electronics has used the balanced scorecard to align company vision, focus employees on how they fit into the big picture, and educate them on what drives the business. An essential aid to …

Decomposing A Partner : Intra-Organisational Dynamics In Inter-Organisational Relationships, Abhoy K Ojha

IIMB Management Review

The traditional literature on alliances has treated organisations as homogenous entities, neglecting the influence of intra-organisational dynamics on inter-organisational relationships. This article, based on a longitudinal analysis of the global software outsourcing partnerships between a North America based telecommunications multinational, Global Telecommunications, and four Indian software firms, examines the role of these dynamics within the multinational in the four relationships. Decisions to enter into outsourcing relationships, particularly with global partners, have severe ramifications for nodal organisations. Contrary to the literature on the subject, data from this research suggested that Global’s decision to establish outsourcing relationships was not a corporate decision, …

Internationalization, Globalization, And Capability-Based Strategy, Stephen Tallman, Karin Fladmoe-Lindquist

Management Faculty Publications

Current trends appear to suggest that globally integrated strategies are the wave of the future for many industries, but no theoretically sound, firm-level model explains this situation. International business models explain industry trends from economic perspectives, and organizational theory is beginning to examine the organizing principles of multinational firms, but a gap exists in explaining the strategic motivations of multinational firms as they expand and integrate worldwide. This article develops a capability-driven, as opposed to market-driven, framework of multinational strategy. This contingent framework explains the organizational consequences of international expansion and global integration depending on the capability types, capability strategies, …

Manufacturing Technology And Operations In China:: A Survey Of State-Owned Enterprises, Private Firms, Joint Ventures And Wholly-Owned Foreign Subsidiaries, David Pyke Phd, Ma, Mba, Ba, John Farley Phd, David Robb Phd, Mba, Be

School of Business: Faculty Scholarship

The Government of China has decided to privatize many State-owned enterprises (SOEs). Is it wise to consider investing in these SOEs? What is the level of installed technology, from traditional production planning systems, like MRP, to robotics? How different are SOEs from privately-owned firms, joint ventures, and wholly-owned foreign subsidiaries? This paper attempts to answer these questions based on a survey of 120 manufacturing firms in the Shanghai area. We report on the status of, and future plans for, manufacturing technology implementation; and we discuss other improvement initiatives. We report on significant differences among ownership types, and yet we discover …

Community, Fortitude, Satisfaction, And Loyalty: Tests Of Oliver's Proposed Frameworks, J. Martin Fraering

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

This paper discusses tests of two competing loyalty frameworks proposed by Richard L. Oliver. The cognition to action (CTA) loyalty model specifies four phases: cognitive loyalty, affective loyalty, conative loyalty, and action loyalty, a framework originally discussed by Oliver. The fortitude-community (F-C) loyalty model argues that loyalty is a function of the degree of personal fortitude and the extent to which customers feel that they are members of a community of consumers. In both of these models loyalty is posited to arise from customer satisfaction. Research hypotheses are formulated that assert positive relationships between satisfaction and various loyalty constructs. The …

Swift Neighbors And Persistent Strangers: A Cross-Cultural Investigation Of Trust And Reciprocity In Social Exchange, Nancy R. Buchan, Rachel T.A. Croson, Robin M. Dawes

Faculty Publications

In four countries, levels of trust and reciprocity in direct-reciprocal exchange are compared with those in network-generalized exchanges among experimentally manipulated groups’ members (neighbors) or random experimental participants (strangers). Results show that cooperation decreases as social distance increases; and, that identical network-generalized exchanges generate different amounts of trusting behavior due solely to manipulated social identity between the actors.

This study demonstrates the interaction of culture and social identity on the propensity to trust and reciprocate and also reveals differing relationships between trust and reciprocation in each of the four countries, bringing into question the theoretical relationship between these cooperative behaviors.

R&D, Advertising And The Market Value Of Internet Firms, Damir Tokic

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

The purpose of this study is to explain the valuation of Internet firms during the valuation “bubble” period from 1996 to 2000. The theoretical foundation of the study is the investment opportunities approach to the valuation of growth shares. Consistent with predictions of the investment opportunities approach, the results show a positive and statistically significant relationship between the market value of Internet firms and investments in R&D and advertising in each year of the sample period. These findings strongly support the view that R&D and advertising are intangible assets. The investment opportunities approach also predicts a positive relationship between market …

Stock Return Volatility In Emerging Equity Markets: The Relative Effects Of Country And Global Factors, Benjamin Adam Abugri

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

The rapid growth of capital markets in developing countries has come as a major event in recent financial history. According to the International Finance Corporation (IFC), portfolio flows to emerging countries has kept rising since the early 1980s and the trend has continued even after a number of financial crises (IFC, 2000). Probably one of the most commonly known characteristics of these markets is their high volatility compared to the more developed markets. But results of studies on volatilities in these markets are often based on estimates of the variance of market indexes or asset returns over relatively long periods …

Investing In Hedge Funds: Risks, Returns And Pitfalls, Dong Hong, David Kuo Chuen Lee, Kok Fai Phoon

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Hedge funds are collective investment vehicles fast becoming popular with high net worth individuals as well as institutional investors. These are funds that are often established with a special legal status that allows their investment managers a free hand to use derivatives, short sell, and exploit leverage to raise returns and cushion risk. Given that that they have substantial latitude to invest, it is instructive to examine the performance of hedge funds compared to other forms of managed funds. This paper provides an overview of hedge funds and discusses their empirical risk and return profiles. It also poses some concerns …

Client Perspectives Of Multicultural Counselling Competence: A Qualitative Examination, Donald B. Pope-Davis, Rebecca L. Toporek, Lideth Ortega-Villalobos, Daniela P. Ligiero, Christopher S. Brittan-Powell, William Liu, Michael R. Bashshur, Jamila N. Codrington, Christopher T. H. Liang

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Multicultural competence is a burgeoning area of research in counseling psychology. However, there has been little focus on understanding multicultural competence from the perspective of clients. This study used qualitative interviews and grounded theory to develop a model of clients’ perspectives of multicultural counseling. The resulting model suggested that clients’ experiences of multicultural counseling were contingent on their self-identified needs and on how well they felt the counselor met these needs. Moreover, clients appeared to actively manage and moderate the extent to which culture was broached in counseling based on a host of conditions including counseling relationship, salience of identity, …

Back To The Future? Canada's Experience With Constructive Engagement In Cuba, Michael Bell, Eugene Rothman, Marvin Schiff, Christopher Walker

Institute for Cuban & Cuban-American Studies Occasional Papers

No abstract provided.

Study By Former Canadian Diplomat Takes On Canada's Engagement Policy Toward Cuba, Lourdes Cué

Institute for Cuban & Cuban-American Studies Occasional Papers

No abstract provided.

Sampling Concepts, Paul Boyd, Ph.D.

MBA Faculty Conference Papers & Journal Articles

The usefulness of any research is dependent upon how well the group studied represents the group about which decisions are to be made or conclusions drawn. That is, it depends upon how well the sample reflects relevant characteristics of the population. When it is possible to study every member of that group there is no problem, for on these occasions we can easily calculate the exact attribute (parameter) of interest for our population.

For example, if we were interested in determining the average number of gallons of gasoline sold to customers at our service station yesterday, we …

National Sources Of Leadership In 3g M-Business Applications: A Framework And Evidence From Three Global Regions, Mark Lehrer, Nikhilesh Dholakia, Nir Kshetri

College of Business Faculty Publications

Countries such as Finland and Sweden have exhibited long-established patterns of leadership in mobile telecommunications in general, while Japan's NTT DoCoMo represents an early national-level exemplar of a major m-commerce business system. The task of identifying and profiling the types of national leadership patterns likely to prevail in 3G wireless networks of Europe, Asia, and elsewhere, however, is a challenging one. This is because new technological and other forces are coming into play in the post-GSM world. In this paper, we present a framework and some evidence to show the potential national leadership patterns in 3G mbusiness applications in Asia-Pacific, …

Adr Risk Characteristics And Measurement, Tom Arnold, Lance Nail, Terry D. Nixon

Finance Faculty Publications

While a healthy empirical literature exists on international diversification and its benefits, surprisingly few studies have examined the risk characteristics and efficacy of asset pricing models for one avenue of international diversification – investments in American Depository Receipts (ADRs). Originating in approximately 1927, ADRs provide an opportunity for investors to indirectly purchase shares of foreign firms. ADRs represent a claim to a given number of shares of a foreign firm held by a U.S. financial institution (e.g., Bank of New York). With the increasingly significant presence of ADR trading in the American stock markets – increasing six-fold between 1990 and …

Mexican Peso Futures And Exchange Rate Volatility, Roberto Curci, Cynthia J. Brown

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

The reintroduction of Mexican peso futures contracts in April 1995 resulted from a refocus of governmental policy to the use of market-based mechanisms to stabilize the exchange rate. Interest in the Mexican peso future contracts has been high as investors look to manage their exposure from transactions and investments denominated in pesos. This study utilizes a VAR framework to analyze the relationship between the volatility in theMexican peso spot market and futures contracts trading activity. Shocks to the exchange rate volatility lead to increased hedging-type activity. Furthermore, an increase in futures contracts trading activity (reflecting additional speculation-type activity) results in …

Corporate And Products Identity In The Post-National Economy: Rethinking U.S. Trade Laws, Lan Cao

Faculty Publications

In the global economy, a General Motors automobile may involve South Korean assembly; Japanese engines; German design and style engineering; Taiwanese, Singaporean, and Japanese small components; British advertising and marketing; and Irish and Barbadian data processing. What is the country of origin of this product? How should U.S. trade laws evaluate a product's origin, if it is a global composite with research, assembly, processing, and manufacturing performed in different countries? Similarly, corporations have become increasingly global in orientation and operations. Even "national" corporations have lost their territorial ties to the state of their nationality. Through a phenomenon termed "global outsourcing" …

Hemispheric Integration And The Politics Of Regionalism: The Free Trade Area Of The Americas (Ftaa), Christopher M. Bruner

Scholarly Works

This article examines negotiations toward a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). It seeks to discern what key negotiating parties want out of such an agreement, and the means through which they have sought to achieve their disparate goals.

The United States and Brazil, in particular, have employed complex negotiating strategies in order to gain theupper hand - strategies prompted by a variety of economic and political dynamics at domestic andsubregional levels. These dynamics include the significant pressure exerted on U.S. policy-makers by constituent groups sensitive to globalization's impact on labor and the environment, as well as the challenge …

Qualities And Competencies Needed For Successful Overseas Posting : The Views Of Malaysian Expatriates, Mohd Radzuan Rahid

Student Works (2000-2009)

In the era of globalization where of multinationals and transnational companies have their international operations spread all over the world, the area of international human resource management (IHRM) has becoming more and more important. Human factor is now considered as an important aspect in determining the success of international operations. Scholars, like Adler and Bartholomew (1992) agreed that in order to ensure the success implementation of global strategies, it would largely depend on getting the people with right skills, at the right time, which typically requires the movement of people across border. This study will focus on one of the …

The Implications Of China's Entry To World Trade Organization (Wto) : Perceptions Of Malaysia Managers In Electronic Industry, Hong Nian Gan

Student Works (2000-2009)

No abstract provided.

Total Factor Productivity And Performance Of Resource-Based Industry In Malaysia, Rozilee Asid

Student Works (2000-2009)

The development of Resource Based Industries (RBIs) in Malaysia since it was first launched in 1984 has seen as turning point of the industry to gain momentum in line with the corresponding industrial policy. By using the two inputs Cobb-Douglass model specifically growth accounting model, this study tries to estimate the total factor productivity (TFP) growth for the periods of 1981-1997 in collaboration to review its development and resilient performance. Using the 3-digit-level industrial classification, it was found that six (out of 14) of the RBIs show a positive gain of TFP growth. In broad categories (5-digit-level classification), 30 industries …

A Study On Technology Region Success Factors With Comparative Analysis On The Multimedia Super Corridor, Anand Solomon Mark

Student Works (2000-2009)

Technology regions refer to regions which have densely packed technology companies and their associated supporting industries with some of those companies having achieved immense success so that they can be considered world class. This paper firstly looks at Malaysia's economic evolution and underscores the case for Malaysia's need to transform itself from a low wage manufacturing economy to a knowledge economy. Competition from other low wage countries such as Thailand, Indonesia and China is diverting investment in the manufacturing sector and eroding Malaysia's competitiveness causing growth to slow. To counter the anticipated manufacturing slowdown, the country needs to move up …

Strategies To Market Malaysian Palm Oil Overseas, Teck Chaii Lim

Student Works (2000-2009)

Malaysia is the world's largest producer and exporter of palm oil. With the growing volume of production of palm oil and other vegetable oils and fats throughout the world, competition for these oils including palm oil has intensified and will become more intense in the future. With the more competitive environment, Malaysia's palm oil industrial players has to put up a number of good strategies in order to maintain its position as the world's number one exporter and sustain its market share in the world's oils and fats trade. This increased competitiveness has triggered much concern and attention ought to …

United States Gaap Versus International Accounting Standards: Convergence Or Divergence. Evidence From Form 20-F, Kendra Jo Huff

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

Numerous accounting standards and practices affect the financial statements analyzed by investors and creditors thus bringing into question the comparability of such statements. Firms operating internationally often apply accounting methods and practices accepted by other global firms and investors. Comparability increases, or harmonization occurs, as firms converge toward a few accepted methods or when the number of methods applied decrease. This study analyzes the comparability of profits based on U.S. principles versus International Accounting Standards and other foreign accounting principles. The data for the analysis consisted of the reconciliation items and profits reported in Form 20-F filed by foreign corporations …

Building And Growing Customer Communications: A Framework For Exploring Commonalities And Differences In The Ways Consumers Are Targeted With Health Care Messages By Multinational Pharmaceutical Companies In Europe And In The United States, Gail S. Thornton

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

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An Investigation Into The Validity Of The Intra-Continental And Intercontinental Casselian Hypothesis (Ppp) And Uncovered Interest Rate Parity (Uip) In Southern African Development Community (Sadc) Countries A Long Run Structural Modelling Approach, Fidelia M. Gandiya

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The current high exchange rate volatility in the face of globalization, underpinned by growing trade and financial and commodity markets liberalization has attracted the resurgence of considerable interest from both financial economists and policy makers, into the validity of international parity relationships. Using multivariate cointegration framework and long run structural modelling, this paper investigates the evidence in support of two of the parity relationships that underpin either implicitly or explicitly much of international macroeconomics. The first is the purchasing power parity (PPP) hypothesis or the theorem that there exists an invariable long-run equilibrium real exchange rate. The second is the …