Joshua Doane, Judy A. Lane and Michael J. Pisani
Volume 25 celebrates the 25th year of publication for the American Journal of Business (AJB). Launched by eight MAC schools of business in March 1986, the Journal has featured…
Abstract
Volume 25 celebrates the 25th year of publication for the American Journal of Business (AJB). Launched by eight MAC schools of business in March 1986, the Journal has featured more than 700 authors who have contributed more than 330 research articles at the intersection of theory and practice. From accounting to marketing, management to finance, the Journal prominently covers the breadth of the business disciplines as a general business outlet intended for both practitioners and academics. As the Journal reaches out beyond the MAC in sponsorship, authorship, and readership, we assess the Journal’s first quarter century of impact.
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Van Miller, Tom Becker and Charles Crespy
This paper studies the strategies of “E” award winning exporters engaged in manufacturing and demonstrates that there are multiple strategies for achieving success. Cluster…
Abstract
This paper studies the strategies of “E” award winning exporters engaged in manufacturing and demonstrates that there are multiple strategies for achieving success. Cluster analysis is applied to fifty‐seven items that comprise the population of business activities for award‐winning U.S. exporters to Latin America. Four strategies emerge from the cluster analysis and are validated with multiple methods. In addition, the clusters are shown to be consistent with an emerging business strategy typology that until now has ignored exporting. The results offer both a geographical and a conceptual extension of prior work in international business.
Charles Crespy, Van Miller and Thomas Becker
Benchmarking is the process of identifying business practices thatlead to superior performance. This is done by searching out those firmswhich are clearly the best at a particular…
Abstract
Benchmarking is the process of identifying business practices that lead to superior performance. This is done by searching out those firms which are clearly the best at a particular endeavor. In exporting, the best firms have won the presidentially‐conferred “E” Award. Offers an initial step toward benchmarking the practices of 73 of these award‐winning exporters. Indicates that there are four quite diverse strategies employed by superior exporters. Two are customer focused and two are not. Each strategy is built on the competitive strengths of the individual firms.
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Thomas Becker, Van Miller and Charles Crespy
The widening rift at the macro level between the proponents of economic growth and those of environmental protection may have triggered forces acting in the opposite direction at…
Abstract
The widening rift at the macro level between the proponents of economic growth and those of environmental protection may have triggered forces acting in the opposite direction at the micro‐level where competitive performance is increasingly becoming a function of the ability of firms to respond to environmentally‐defined strategic advantages. We cite examples of current corporate behavior which suggest a stages model of responses to environmental threats and opportunities. The model portrays an evolutionary process in which competitiveness and environmental goals may converge to become complementary forces driving pro‐active firms toward a strategy of competitive environmentalism.
Recent years have witnessed a “global” evangelism that has permeated both the trade and the academic press. The global doctrine has emerged as a new manifest destingy heralding…
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Recent years have witnessed a “global” evangelism that has permeated both the trade and the academic press. The global doctrine has emerged as a new manifest destingy heralding the inevitability of a one market world (Levitt; 92).
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The classic case for competitiveness as a force driving change was made by Charles Darwin in The Origin of Species by Natural Selection (1859). Adaptation, the ability to react…
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The classic case for competitiveness as a force driving change was made by Charles Darwin in The Origin of Species by Natural Selection (1859). Adaptation, the ability to react successfully to a changed environment, accounts for multiplicity in the world of nature. Long billed birds are better able to dip beneath the surface of shallow lagoons for their food; the sharp, hard, short beaks of certain finches allow them to crack nuts and seeds. Darwin's reading of nature, so immediately popular and at the same time so controversial, fit well within the goals of nineteenth‐century scientific thought. Tracing the causes of change to fixed, logical patterns allowed scientists to remove non‐objective elements from their equations for evolution. Such issues as value, valor, or virtue held no place in a system of analysis unless they had survival value.
Justin L. Davis, R. Greg Bell, G. Tyge Payne and Patrick M. Kreiser
Organizational researchers have long recognized the important role that top managers play within entrepreneurial firms (Ireland, Hitt and Sirmon 2003). Utilizing Covin and…
Abstract
Organizational researchers have long recognized the important role that top managers play within entrepreneurial firms (Ireland, Hitt and Sirmon 2003). Utilizing Covin and Slevin’s (1989) conceptual framework, the current study explores three key entrepreneurial characteristics of top managers and the impact these characteristics have on firm performance. Specifically, we argue that top managers with a high tolerance of risk, those who favor innovative activities and those who display a high degree of proactiveness will positively impact firm performance. In addition, this study examines the influence of top managers’ prestige, structural and expert power on the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and firm performance. We conclude the study with a discussion of theoretical and practical implications of our findings and suggestions for future research in this area of study.
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Yot Amornkitvikai, Charles Harvie and Piyapong Sangkaew
The objectives of this study are to investigate the role of wages, skills development and R&D on the productivity of Thai manufacturing firms, using data from the 2017 Industrial…
Abstract
Purpose
The objectives of this study are to investigate the role of wages, skills development and R&D on the productivity of Thai manufacturing firms, using data from the 2017 Industrial Census of Thailand.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper uses two-stage least squares (2SLS) to examine the role of wages, skills development and R&D, as well as other vital factors, impacting productivity as measured by labour productivity and total factor productivity.
Findings
Thai manufacturing firms' technology in aggregate exhibits decreasing returns to scale. Increasing wages and skills development promote the labour productivity and total factor productivity (TFP) of Thai manufacturers. R&D is also shown to be vital in promoting the labour productivity and TFP of large firms, but not small firms. Foreign direct investment (FDI) and government support can significantly increase large and medium-sized firms' labour productivity and TFP. Financially constrained firms tend to perform more productively. However, older firms, larger firms, labour supply shortages and political instability adversely affect labour productivity and TFP.
Practical implications
Upskilling and improving HRD policies could move Thailand towards a knowledge-based and high-income country in the future. Intellectual property protection should be strengthened to boost the country's R&D. The government should consider lifting restrictions on FDI to encourage international openness. The Thai Board of Investment’s promotion should target Thai manufacturing firms and FDI.
Originality/value
This study is the first to examine in detail the role of wages, skills development and R&D on the productivity of Thai firms based on the 2017 Thailand Industrial Census.
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As we approach the millennium, we find ourselves in a world that places ever greater weight and significance on the outcome of polls, surveys, and market research. The advent of…
Abstract
As we approach the millennium, we find ourselves in a world that places ever greater weight and significance on the outcome of polls, surveys, and market research. The advent of modern polling began with the use of scientific sampling in the mid‐1930s and has progressed vastly beyond the initial techniques and purposes of the early practitioners such as George Gallup, Elmo Roper, and Archibald Crossley. In today's environment, the computer is an integral part of most commercial survey work, as are the efforts by academic and nonprofit enterprises. It should be noted that the distinction between the use of the words “poll” and “survey” is somewhat arbitrary, with the mass media seeming to prefer “polling,” and with academia selecting “survey research.” However, searching online systems will yield differing results, hence this author's inclusion of both terms in the title of this article.