Chin‐Chun Hsu and David J. Boggs
Previous empirical results on the relationship between internationalization and firm performance have been mixed. Both monotonic and curvilinear relationships have been reported…
Abstract
Previous empirical results on the relationship between internationalization and firm performance have been mixed. Both monotonic and curvilinear relationships have been reported. Most recent studies have focused on different types of curvilinear relationships, such as inverted Ushaped, standard U‐shaped, and multiple waves. This paper utilizes a more current sample of firms than prior studies have used and decomposes traditional financial performance measures, applying two different measures of degree of internationalization, country scope and foreign sales as a percent of total sales (FSTS), to measure the effects on financial performance of different degrees of internationalization. Several financial performance measures, including traditional indexes (ROE and ROA) and a decomposition of traditional ones (Profit Margin, Total Asset Turnover), are examined.
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This paper seeks to examine the effects of communications infrastructure and other traditionally‐investigated, market‐related factors on net investment inflows into developed…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper seeks to examine the effects of communications infrastructure and other traditionally‐investigated, market‐related factors on net investment inflows into developed versus emerging markets.
Design/methodology/approach
Hypotheses are developed and tested empirically using auto‐regression analysis. Data are used from 38 countries (19 developing and 19 developed) over a ten‐year period (1995‐2004).
Findings
Findings are consistent with the view that research models of the drivers of investment inflows should consider markets' levels of economic development, different time frames, and macro‐economic changes in the global market.
Research limitations/implications
Communications infrastructure influences a country's ability to attract foreign investment. Extrapolation of the results to other places and times should be done with caution.
Practical implications
Managers should carefully examine the information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure before investing in foreign countries to determine suitability to supporting achievement of company objectives. Policy makers that wish to attract foreign investment should strengthen country ICT capacity and, especially for emerging economies, complementary capabilities and telecommunications utilization.
Originality/value
The research highlights the importance of communications infrastructure for attracting inward foreign investment and suggests that technological infrastructure and human utilization of communications impact investment inflows, but only during a certain time frame in the development process of market economies.
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Henry Yu Xie and David J. Boggs
To build a conceptual framework for the development of branding strategy from the pint of view of a Western firm entering a market in a developing economy.
Abstract
Purpose
To build a conceptual framework for the development of branding strategy from the pint of view of a Western firm entering a market in a developing economy.
Design/methodology/approach
An extensive literature review brings together two research streams, market entry and branding strategy, with particular reference to corporate branding versus product branding.
Findings
The choice of branding strategy is determined in the conditions under study by five antecedent factors and three moderating variables, which are expressed as a visual model and eight propositions.
Practical implications
In a rapidly developing world, this framework and the literature review from which it is derived offer applicable marketing intelligence to planners of branding strategies for international markets. The eight propositions suggest fruitful directions for further academic research.
Originality/value
Draws together two streams within the marketing literature in an original way, and offers a framework for the conceptualisation of an important element of marketing strategy in challenging market conditions.
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Daniel W. Baack and David J. Boggs
Strategic contingency theory maintains that a successful strategy should fit the features of the environment in which it is implemented, suggesting that different strategies are…
Abstract
Purpose
Strategic contingency theory maintains that a successful strategy should fit the features of the environment in which it is implemented, suggesting that different strategies are required in different world markets. In contrast, Porter posited three generic strategies, and asserted that to be effective firms should consistently use only one of the three. This paper aims to address this apparent disagreement by discussing the transfer, by developed‐country multinational companies (MNCs), of a cost‐leadership strategy to emerging markets.
Design/methodology/approach
Presenting theoretical arguments, based on deductive reasoning and examples reported in business publications, the authors focus on why firms from developed countries may find a cost‐leadership strategy ineffective in emerging markets. This focus on both emerging markets as a group and on the ease of the transfer of the cost‐leadership strategy fills a gap in the international management literature.
Findings
It is argued that implementation of a cost‐leadership strategy by developed‐country MNCs is rarely effective in emerging markets, and that MNCs may benefit from using different strategies in different markets.
Originality/value
The paper provides at least a partial explanation as to why developed‐country firms may struggle when they apply a generic competitive strategy across countries. The contribution of this paper is two‐fold. First, it explores the question of emerging market strategies by focusing on developed‐country MNCs that use a cost‐leadership strategy in these markets. Second, the paper contributes an important critique of the claims made by some business strategy theorists that MNCs need to use a single generic strategy globally in order to achieve high performance.
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Abdulkader Zairbani and Senthil Kumar Jaya Prakash
The purpose of this paper is to provide an organizing lens for viewing the distinct contributions to knowledge production from those research communities addressing the impact of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide an organizing lens for viewing the distinct contributions to knowledge production from those research communities addressing the impact of competitive strategy on company performance in general, and the influence of cost leadership and differentiation strategy on organizational performance in detail.
Design/methodology/approach
The research methodology was based on the PRISMA review, and thematic analysis based on an iterative process of open coding was analyzed and then the sample was analyzed by illustrating the research title, objectives, method, data analysis, sample size, variables and country.
Findings
The main factor that influenced the competitive strategy is strategic growth; strategic growth has a significant influence on competitive strategy. Furthermore, competitive strategy will boost firm network, performance measurement and organization behavior. In the same way, the internal goal factor will enhance organizational effectiveness. Also, a differentiation strategy will support management practice factors, strategic positions, product price, product characteristics and company performance.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the literature by identifying a framework of competitive strategy factors, company performance factors, cost leadership strategy factors, differentiation strategy factors and competitive strategy with global market factors. This study provides a complete picture and description of the resulting body knowledge in competitive strategy and organizational performance.
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The Soweto revolt of 1976 was mounted by black students in South Africa mobilized under the banner of the Black Consciousness (BC) ideology. However, when thousands of these…
Abstract
The Soweto revolt of 1976 was mounted by black students in South Africa mobilized under the banner of the Black Consciousness (BC) ideology. However, when thousands of these youths were driven into exile by state repression, they joined the African National Congress (ANC) or its military wing. When hundreds of them returned as guerrillas after 1978, some were arrested and tried, while others were involved in spectacular shootouts with the police. The resulting press coverage began to revive ANC ideology in popular consciousness. With further publicity in 1980 from a Free Mandela campaign, and from luridly successful sabotage attacks, popular support for the ANC soared, shaping political events for the rest of the decade. The only other noteworthy tendency among blacks was the Zulu‐based Inkatha movement led by Chief Gatsha Buthelezi, whose support among young people was slight because of his hostile stance to both BC and the ANC.
Russell A. Davis and Leah P. Hollis
Various researchers (Bennis, 1999; Birks, Budden, Stewart, & Chapman, 2014; Boggs, 2003; Burns, 1978; Gill & Jones, 2013; McPhail, 2002) have studied executive leadership and the…
Abstract
Various researchers (Bennis, 1999; Birks, Budden, Stewart, & Chapman, 2014; Boggs, 2003; Burns, 1978; Gill & Jones, 2013; McPhail, 2002) have studied executive leadership and the cultures such leaders govern. Other studies have considered workplace bullying and its impact on the target (Branch, Ramsay & Barker, 2007; Hollis, 2015; Keim & McDermott, 2010; Klein, 2009). However, the voice of the president is often missing from such studies on workplace bullying and the culture that causes these distractions. Therefore, this narrative qualitative study collects the stories of six community college presidents to better understand how even the most executive officer can be the target of workplace bullying. The findings reveal that presidents endure workplace bullying from collective populations such as the faculty or the community. Further, the board of trustees can act as or enable a bully that has a deleterious impact on the presidents and the communities they serve. The findings from this narrative qualitative study may prove informative to candidates considering such presidential or chief executive positions as well as to boards of trustees who are critical to any president’s success.
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This chapter describes a case study of a social change project in medical education (primary care), in which the critical interpretive evaluation methodology I sought to use came…
Abstract
This chapter describes a case study of a social change project in medical education (primary care), in which the critical interpretive evaluation methodology I sought to use came up against the “positivist” approach preferred by senior figures in the medical school who commissioned the evaluation.
I describe the background to the study and justify the evaluation approach and methods employed in the case study – drawing on interviews, document analysis, survey research, participant observation, literature reviews, and critical incidents – one of which was the decision by the medical school hierarchy to restrict my contact with the lay community in my official evaluation duties. The use of critical ethnography also embraced wider questions about circuits of power and the social and political contexts within which the “social change” effort occurred.
Central to my analysis is John Gaventa’s theory of power as “the internalization of values that inhibit consciousness and participation while encouraging powerlessness and dependency.” Gaventa argued, essentially, that the evocation of power has as much to do with preventing decisions as with bringing them about. My chosen case illustrated all three dimensions of power that Gaventa originally uncovered in his portrait of self-interested Appalachian coal mine owners: (1) communities were largely excluded from decision making power; (2) issues were avoided or suppressed; and (3) the interests of the oppressed went largely unrecognized.
The account is auto-ethnographic, hence the study is limited by my abilities, biases, and subject positions. I reflect on these in the chapter.
The study not only illustrates the unique contribution of case study as a research methodology but also its low status in the positivist paradigm adhered to by many doctors. Indeed, the tension between the potential of case study to illuminate the complexities of community engagement through thick description and the rejection of this very method as inherently “flawed” suggests that medical education may be doomed to its neoliberal fate for some time to come.
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The Commission appointed jointly by the World Health Organization and the Food and Agricultural Organization continues to plod its weary way towards the establishment of Codex…
Abstract
The Commission appointed jointly by the World Health Organization and the Food and Agricultural Organization continues to plod its weary way towards the establishment of Codex standards for all foods, which it is hoped will eventually be adopted by all countries, to end the increasing chaos of present national standards. We have to go back to 1953, when the Sixth World Health Assembly showed signs of a stirring of international conscience at trends in food industry; and particularly expressed “the view that the increasing use of various chemical substances had … , created a new public health problem”. Joint WHO/FAO Conferences which followed initiated inter alia international consultations and the setting up of the Joint FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius Commission.