Strategic Management Policy Commons^™

The Ambivalent Effect Of Complexity On Firm Performance: A Study In The Global Service Provider Industry, Marcus M. Larsen, Stephan Manning, Torben Pedersen

Management and Marketing Faculty Publication Series

Prior literature is ambivalent about whether organizational complexity has positive or negative effects on firm performance. Using rich data on global service providers, we explore this ambivalence by disentangling performance consequences of different types of organizational complexity. We show that complexity arising from the coordination of different services and operations negatively influences profit margins through increased coordination costs, whereas complexity coming from the sophistication of particular services may positively influence margins through informational advantages. We also investigate the moderating effects of process commoditization and client-specific investments. Our findings point to critical performance dilemmas facing global service providers in a highly …

Board Representation In International Joint Ventures, Ilya R. P. Cuypers, Gokhan Ertug, Jeffrey J. Reuer, Ben Bensaou

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Relatively little attention has been paid to boards in international joint ventures (IJVs), and the composition of these boards in particular. We examine the determinants of foreign partners' representation on IJV boards in order to advance our knowledge of this facet of IJV governance. We argue that a foreign partner's representation on the IJV board is related to its equity contribution. However, we hypothesize that this relationship is moderated by IJV and host country characteristics that affect the importance of the internal and external roles IJV boards serve. These results provide insights into the conditions under which a partner might …

Cross-Border M&A: Challenges And Opportunities In Global Business Environment [Guest Editors' Introduction], Rosa Caizza, Katsuhiko Shimizu, Toru Yoshikawa

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School of Business

Under a rapidly changing and globalizing environment, mergers and acquisitions (M&As) have become one of the most important strategic initiatives. In this context, cross-border M&As provide various opportunities and benefits such as expeditious entry into new markets by gaining local knowledge, supplier networks, government relationships, and customers embedded in the target firm.

How Hybrids Manage Growth And Social-Business Tensions In Global Supply Chains: The Case Of Impact Sourcing, Chacko G. Kannothra, Stephan Manning, Nardia Haigh

Management and Marketing Faculty Publication Series

This study contributes to the growing interest in how hybrid organizations manage paradoxical social—business tensions. Our empirical case is ‘impact sourcing’ – hybrids in global supply chains that hire staff from disadvantaged communities to provide services to business clients. We identify two major growth orientations - ‘community-focused’ and ‘client-focused’ growth - their inherent tensions and ways that hybrids manage them. The former favors slow growth and manages tensions through highly-integrated client and community relations; the latter promotes faster growth and manages client and community relations separately. Both growth orientations address social-business tensions in particular ways, but also create latent constraints …

Africa Business Research As A Laboratory For Theory-Building: Extreme Conditions, New Phenomena And Alternative Paradigms Of Social Relationships, Helena Barnard, Alvaro Cuervo-Cazurra, Stephan Manning

Management and Marketing Faculty Publication Series

Africa is an increasingly important business context, yet we still know very little about it. We review the challenges and opportunities that firms in Africa face and propose that these can serve as the basis for extending current theories and models of the firm. We do so by challenging some of the implicit assumptions and stereotypes on firms in Africa and proposing three avenues for extending theories. One is taking the extreme conditions of some Africa countries and using them as a laboratory for modifying current theories and models of the firm, as we illustrate in the case of institutional …

Portfolio Risk-Return Analysis: The Case Of The Automotive Industry In The Czech Republic, Florin Aliu, Drahomira Pavelkova, Bruce Dehning

Accounting Faculty Articles and Research

Risk has always been the concern of managers and shareholders as a part of decision-making processes. Managers tend to control unsystematic risk mostly while trying to minimize the exposure to systematic (market) risk. The paper aims to assess the risk level and risk-return tradeoffs for the companies operating in Czech automotive industry. A diversification formula and calculation of returns using return-on-equity were employed on the yearly basis from 2005 till 2014. The returns and risk calculations were conducted on the portfolio of auto manufacturers, followed by the portfolio of auto suppliers, while the third one was performed for suppliers and …

The United States, Developing Countries And The Issue Of Intra-Enterprise Agreements, Joel Davidow

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

Antitrust issues have become one of the main concern of the world economy community and the United Nations. For many years, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development has multiplied the meetings to discuss the relationship between transnational enterprises and international investment and has engaged in reflections on methods to avoid a decline in international investment. However, these meetings failed to resolve the fundamental issue of the impact of international antitrust principles on restrictive arrangements between a foreign parent corporation and its local subsidiary, particularly where that subsidiary is in a developing country. If applied, multinational enterprises would be …

China Business At A Crossroads: Institutions, Innovation, And International Competitiveness, Joseph L. C. Cheng, Daphne W. Yiu

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

As the world's fastest growing economy with over a billion population, China is a country that the world needs to know more about in order to understand and anticipate her global and regional impact. Toward this end, the current special issue seeks to advance knowledge about the changing institutions in China and their impact on China business from both the perspectives of foreign firms investing in China and Chinese firms expanding internationally. Four articles selected from a pool of over 50 submissions are presented here, each covering one or more of the country's changing economic, political, and technological institutions. Collectively, …

Experience And Fdi Risk-Taking: A Microfoundational Reconceptualization, Peter J. Buckley, Liang Chen, L. Jeremy Clegg, Hinrich Voss

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Studies of how firms respond to host country risk have assigned explanatory primacy to organizational capability and managerial risk preference. The organization-level account is built on the premise that capability is a prerequisite for risk-taking while the individual-level account focuses on the managers' intrinsic behavioral attitude. Without integrating one with the other, the former is open to many alternative explanations while the latter remains only a source of heterogeneity. We propose that employing the microfoundations approach can address the limitations of each account and yield a fuller understanding of FDI risk-taking. Drawing upon behavioral decision theory and the concept of …

Corporate Social Responsibility: Implications For Businesses Operating In The United States And The European Union, Kaitlyn Sapp

Honors Scholar Theses

The expectations of what businesses should be responsible for has changed more and more as the consumer consciousness has evolved. For many businesses, especially those in the United States, change in their approach to corporate social responsibility (CSR) is necessary in order to satisfy customers and stay competitive. This paper will discuss and compare the history and current practice of CSR between the United States and the European Union. I find that since the European Union has a history of holding companies to higher CSR standards, European-based companies have an advantage in various consumer markets with growing consciousness. Meanwhile, companies …

An Acculturation Program For Foreign-Born Workers At Multinational Companies Transferred To Offices In The United States, Eric Krieger

Capstone Collection

The purpose of this study is to create an acculturation program that multinational companies can use to ease the transition of foreign-born employees who are transferred to the United States. There are a number of challenges for these employees, from navigating the logistics of finding a place to live, setting up a bank account and filling out taxes to the social emotional issues of trying to adapt to another culture, build community and be successful in a new work environment. Through interviews with foreign-born employees, Human Resources professionals, and intercultural trainers, qualitative and quantitative data was collected to understand current …

The Effects Of Within-Country Linguistic And Religious Diversity On Foreign Acquisitions, Douglas Dow, Ilya Cuypers, Gokhan Ertug

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This article explores how within-country diversity of both language and religion influences the ownership structure of foreign acquisitions. Commentators have acknowledged the potential importance of “within-country diversity,” but to date this issue has received minimal empirical attention. We propose that diversity plays two distinct roles. Namely, diversity within the host country may be an additional source of behavioral uncertainty and information asymmetry, over and above the effects arising from cross-national differences. Moreover, diversity within the home country may increase the cognitive complexity of the decision makers, moderating the firm’s response to the distance and diversity of the host country. Results …

Macroconstants Of Development: A New Benchmark For The Strategic Development Of Advanced Countries And Firms, Andrey V. Bystrov, Vyacheslav N. Yusim, Tamilla Curtis

Publications

This research proposed a new indicator of countries’ development called “macroconstants of development”. The literature review indicates that the concept of "macroconstants of development" is not used at the moment in neither the theory nor the practice of industrial policy. Research of longitudinal data of total GDP, GDP per capita and their derivatives for most countries of the world was conducted. An analysis of statistical information has been done by employing econometric analyses.

Based on the analysis of the statistical data, which characterizes the development of large, technologically advanced countries in ordinary conditions, it was identified that the average acceleration …

Beyond Beautiful*- Why Citizens Are Comparatively Happier, More Prosperous, More Peaceful, More Democratically Engaged And Less Selfish Living In Smaller States, Anthony Paul Buckley

Other

Half of all sovereign states in the world have a population of less than 6.2m (World Bank, 2014). The mainstream literature in most academic disciplines has chosen, by accident or design, to neglect the unique determinants of small state growth and development (Armstrong & Read, 2003; Read, 2014). These are extraordinary omissions when the collective evidence on the performance of smaller states on a wide range of economic, political, cultural and social indices is considered. Apart from the disproportionate representation that small states enjoy in the World Banks Upper-Middle and High Income categories, many small states also feature in the …

A Mixed-Methods (Quantitative-Qualitative) Study To Identify The Perceived Level Of, Zeky Zardo

Dissertations

Different approaches to developing leaders have been established through various forms of self-assessment, action learning, and education and training activities (Smither et al., 2005). The existing body of research on the impact and success of college and university leadership development programs focuses heavily on undergraduate leadership programs and not graduate-level programs such as the Master of Business Administration (MBA) or the doctorate. The purpose of this mixed-methods (quantitative–qualitative) study was to identify the perceived level of transformational leadership skill development by students enrolled in a doctoral program in organizational leadership. In addition, it was the purpose of this study to …

National Culture Dimensions And Consumer Digital Piracy: A European Perspective, Irena Vida, Monika Kukar-Kinney, Mateja Kos Kokli, James Reardon

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

Digital piracy as a ubiquitous phenomenon affects a number of stakeholders, such as consumers, enterprises, and governments. Considering its global nature, it has been of particular interest to consumer researchers. Hence, a large body of digital piracy literature sheds light on the demand side and illuminates various predictors of digital piracy behavior (Harris & Daunt, 2011). Despite these efforts, very little attention has been devoted to applying international perspective in investigating digital piracy across different countries (Ki, Chang, & Khang, 2006). This study aims to fill this void by examining the digital piracy behavior in three EU countries. In addition, …

The New Panama Canal In A Global Context, Herman L. Boschken

Faculty Publications, School of Management

Without the "container revolution" (1970-present) and its redesign of seaport and maritime-trade infrastructures, globalization as we know it would not exist. With the recent enlargements of the Panama and Suez Canals, many new implications for U.S. economic trade are unfolding. This presentation at the Commonwealth Club of California, outlines recent changes in world trade and infrastructure development, and poses five factors that will likely determine winners and losers in the unfolding developments of this highly competitive world trade-route system.

Become A Future-Focused Leader: Use Three Megatrends To Grow Your Rural Business, Connie Reimers-Hild, Alyssa Dye

Community Vitality Initiative

No one can predict the future; however, rural entrepreneurs and business owners can use a future-focused leadership approach, which includes examining megatrends, to shape the future of their businesses. Megatrends are global shifts that influence society, the economy and the environment. This article discusses three megatrends shaping the future of rural businesses:

1) The Rise of the #GigEconomy

2) Living with Purpose and Meaning

3) The Decentralized Marketplace

The article also provides coaching tips for rural entrepreneurs on how to use megatrends to grow their businesses.

While many companies are struggling to keep up with the rapid rate of change, …

Documento Conceptual Sobre Redes De Excelencia Para La Investigación Y La Educación, Suresh V. Garimella, David B. Janes, Anne Slaughter Andrew

PPRI Digital Library

“Redes de Excelencia” focalizadas permitirán que las instituciones en América Latina desarrollen ecosistemas de investigación y educación de un modo mucho más rápido que si siguieran procesos "orgánicos" o locales. Una vez implementados, estos ecosistemas no solo permitirán profundas transformaciones que lleven a economías basadas en el conocimiento, sino que también desempeñarán roles claves en las redes necesarias para los sistemas de innovación regionales.

Para acelerar el desarrollo de ecosistemas de investigación y educación en toda América, los autores proponen establecer “Redes de Excelencia” en las áreas claves. Cada Red de Excelencia será multiinstitucional, multisectorial (universidad, empresa, gobierno, ONG) y …

University Of The Future Colombia-Purdue Workshop Report, Suresh V. Garimella, David B. Janes, Liliana Gómez Díaz

PPRI Digital Library

The University of the Future Workshop, a joint Colombia-Purdue event, was held at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, October 28-29, 2014. Participants included rectors and board members from six top universities in Colombia, along with executive directors of NGOs, government representatives from the U.S. and Colombia, and Purdue faculty and administrators. The workshop was focused on a dialog among participants on key programs and focuses that will allow universities to be responsive to the 21st century needs of the Americas.

This report is a summary of the workshop and is based on the contributions of all the participants. Key …

A Concept Paper On Networks Of Excellence For Research And Education, Suresh V. Garimella, David B. Janes, Anne Slaughter Andrew

PPRI Digital Library

Research and education ecosystems, foundational components of knowledge-based economies, are relatively underdeveloped in Latin America. The entire ecosystem of a research university — including resources, corporate partnerships, and research — must capitalize on a symbiosis between the research, education and commercialization missions. A university cannot transform unilaterally nor can universities sustain the required transformation without government and industry participation. Initiatives to accelerate the development of research university ecosystems are critical for the realization of knowledge-based economies and resilient civil societies.

To accelerate the development of research and education ecosystems across the Americas, the authors propose to establish “Networks of Excellence” …

Ryanair Holdings, Nicole Blake Tran, Jamie Perkinson, Caron Sinnenberg, Lionel Tarcia, Jeffrey S. Harrison

Robins Case Network

The crass Irish CEO of Ryanair presides over a modern miracle. Ryanair, with its ridiculously low prices and poor reputation for service, has become one of Europe’s largest and most successful airlines. Employees pay for their own training, flights are cancelled if they won’t be full enough to be profitable, and the concept of “no frills” is heartily embraced. However, some new competitors have come on the scene, and Ryanair may be forced to improve its service and reputation to keep up.

Global Delivery Models: The Role Of Talent, Speed And Time Zones In The Global Outsourcing Industry, Stephan Manning, Marcus Larsen, Pratyush Bharati

Management Science and Information Systems Faculty Publication Series

We investigate antecedents and contingencies of location configurations supporting global delivery models (GDMs) in global outsourcing. GDMs are a new form of IT-enabled client-specific investment promoting services provision integration with clients by exploiting client proximity and time-zone spread allowing for 24/7 service delivery and access to resources. Based on comprehensive data we show that providers are likely to establish GDM configurations when clients value access to globally distributed talent pools and speed of service delivery, and in particular when services are highly commoditized. Findings imply that coordination across time zones increasingly affects international operations in business-to-business and born-global industries.

Developing A Model To Identify Favorable Export Markets, Josh Nichol-Caddy

White Papers

Market research can help small business owners determine where to dedicate time and resources to expand their sales into foreign countries. NBDC uses a four-step process for surveying global demand.

How Product Attributes Influence Internationalization: A Framework Of Domain- And Culture-Specificity, Terence P. C. Fan, Alex Tai Loong Tan

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This paper introduces two important dimensions of product attributes in the context of internationalization: domain- and culture-specificity. Products can be high or low in domain- or culture-specificity, thereby being one of four broad categories in a two-by-two matrix. This framework of product attributes helps explain a series of gradations on how cultural difference influences the difficulty of selling a product internationally. By examining four cases, one from each of these categories, this paper shows that different product attributes affect the difficulty or ease with which the products of these firms were internationalized. While all four cases were able to derive …

Rethinking Cross-Border Talent Management: The Emerging Markets Perspective, Tejpavan Gandhok, Richard Raymond Smith

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

A closer look at the relatively little understood issue of how and why emerging market MNCs manage their senior talent for international growth leads us to question the conventional wisdom on talent management practices.

The Business Of Beds: An Exploration Of Hotel And Hostel Business Strategy, Robert B. Bunda

Honors Scholar Theses

At their cores, hotels and hostels are similar in that they provide a place for travelers to stay. Despite this core similarity, the structures of the two industries are radically different. The hotel industry began in the Middle Ages and has given rise to massive multinational companies, many managing more than four thousand hotels. In stark contrast, the hostel industry began in 1909 and is mostly comprised of independently owned and operated guesthouses, with the largest global chain comprising of less than twenty properties. This study first defines the hotel and hostel industries and examines the different experiences they offer …

The Nature And Influence Of Relationship On Success In A Virtual Work Environment, Carol Locher Ransone

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The evolution of technology in the 21st century has led to a greater understanding of the benefits and the challenges of expanding work relationships across geographical boundaries. This expansion has contributed to the development of a global society with over three million employee teleworkers (Global Workplace Analytics and the Telework Research Network, 2013). In spite of the advances in connecting across the globe technologically, the importance of successfully working together in a virtual work environment is grounded in relationships that foster individual growth and group cohesion. The human elements of connectivity are primary to the success of organizations as well …

Adapting To Change: The State Of Singapore Private Enterprise In China, Wilfred How, Caroline Yeoh

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

One of the most affluent and developed nations in its region, the city-state of Singapore relies largely on tapping global resources for economic growth, to ameliorate its tiny land area and accompanying lack of natural resources. Its current prominence is to a great degree owing to an early recognition of the need for such, and a well-documented stratagem of expanding its foreign direct investments (FDIs) as a means to stimulate economic development (Huff, 1995; Murray and Pereira, 1995) and strengthen the city-state’s ‘external economy’ - one which saw the island progress through a number of distinct phases of overseas investment …

Market Orientation, Embeddedness And The Autonomy And Performance Of Multinational Subsidiaries In An Emerging Economy, Xiaoying Li, Xiaming Liu, Howard Thomas

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This paper develops a conceptual framework for market orientation, embeddedness, autonomy and performance of multinational subsidiaries in an emerging economy. We argue that internal and external embeddedness has different performance implications for export- and local market-oriented multinational subsidiaries. Our results, based on a sample of 233 multinational subsidiaries from China, indicate that while external embeddedness has a positive impact on specialized resources of both types of subsidiary, such resources only positively affect the performance of local market-oriented subsidiaries. By contrast, internal embeddedness has a negative impact on specialized resources of both types of subsidiary. Managerial and policy implications are discussed.