Eunsuk Hong, Jong-Kook Shin and Huan Zou
Extending the springboard perspective with the resource dependence theory, the authors posit that cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&As) are a new channel for emerging…
Abstract
Purpose
Extending the springboard perspective with the resource dependence theory, the authors posit that cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&As) are a new channel for emerging economy firms (EEFs) to enhance their technology capabilities. This study aims to examine the impact of cross-border M&As initiated by EEFs on their technology augmentation vis-à-vis matched domestic M&A cases and investigate the factors influencing the difference in post-merger innovation capability.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper estimates the post-acquisition innovation capability of acquirers from emerging economies (EEs) that engage in cross-border M&As. To remove possible selection bias, the authors leverage a difference-in-difference-style approach in combination with a matched sample constructed by pairing each cross-border M&A case with a similar domestic deal. The data set contains 266 cross-border M&As and 266 matched domestic M&A deals between 2003 and 2011, whereby acquirers are based in 6 EEs and targets are in 36 countries consisting of both EEs and advanced economies (AEs).
Findings
The present empirical results show that cross-border M&As engaged by EEFs are an important engine for improving EEFs’ innovation capability through technology augmentation. The main empirical results are as follows. First, compared with matched domestic acquirers with similar characteristics, EE cross-border M&As have a positive effect on innovation capability. Second, the positive effect of the EEFs’ cross-border M&As relative to the matched domestic M&As on innovation capability is driven largely by cross-border M&As with targets in AEs. Third, the increase in post-M&A innovation capability of the EE cross-border acquirers comes mainly from deals where targets are based in countries with relatively superior human capital and innovation capability than those of the acquirers.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first systematic study of whether cross-border M&As serve as an effective channel of technology augmentation for EE acquirers compared to matched domestic acquirers with similar characteristics.
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The purpose of this paper is to understand how high‐tech firms from China internationalize and to determine whether they follow the gradual internationalization model suggested by…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to understand how high‐tech firms from China internationalize and to determine whether they follow the gradual internationalization model suggested by the Uppsala school and/or the rapid internationalization model as suggested by the “born global” stream of researchers.
Design/methodology/approach
This is an inductive and exploratory study that tries to understand questions of how and why. A multiple case study method is used to find empirical evidence for the a priori assumptions derived from the literature.
Findings
It was found that the gradual internationalization model is still valid although high‐tech firms from China internationalize much faster than suggested by earlier studies and they do not follow the process suggested by born global studies.
Research limitations/implications
The authors develop a number of propositions that can be empirically tested in pursuit of theory building for the internationalization of smaller firms from emerging markets.
Originality/value
The paper compares and contrasts the models suggested by Uppsala studies and by researchers in the field of born global studies and provides concrete propositions that can be tested to develop a theory for emerging market firms.
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Claudia Klausegger, Rudolf R. Sinkovics and Huan “Joy” Zou
The purpose of this paper is to examine the nature and negative effects of the “information overload” phenomenon, exacerbated in recent years by organizational design issues and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the nature and negative effects of the “information overload” phenomenon, exacerbated in recent years by organizational design issues and rapid advances in information and communication technology, through a multidisciplinary lens.
Design/methodology/approach
Data from a five‐country East‐West published study of information overload in the Reuters organization are used to examine the influences on information overload and to compare the effects on respondents in each country.
Findings
Results of the re‐manipulation of the survey data demonstrate significant negative relationships between information overload and the fulfilment of job responsibilities in all five countries surveyed. Information overload was perceived to be most stressful in the USA and UK.
Practical implications
Marketing managers face the dilemma of receiving too much information, but too little that is “right” for their planning responsibilities. The challenge is thus to convert “information” into “intelligence” that can effectively support strategic marketing planning. Suggestions are offered for reducing the duplication of information and adopting appropriate information‐management strategies.
Originality/value
Information overload has serious practical consequences for management and planning in marketing no less than in any other discipline. A clear and comprehensive view of the phenomenon and its effects on everyday job responsibilities is therefore useful in tackling the problem. The cross‐national analysis permits adjustments to local management style and behaviour in the major economies of the East and West.
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Mahesh Joshi, Daryll Cahill, Jasvinder Sidhu and Monika Kansal
The purpose of this paper is to examine the intellectual capital (IC) performance of the Australian Financial Sector for the period 2006‐2008. It also aims to examine the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the intellectual capital (IC) performance of the Australian Financial Sector for the period 2006‐2008. It also aims to examine the relationship between IC performance and the financial performance of the financial sector.
Design/methodology/approach
The value added intellectual coefficient (VAIC) approach developed by Pulic is used to determine the IC performance of the Australian financial sector. The required data to calculate different constituents of IC was obtained from the annual reports of Australian Financial Sector companies.
Findings
The value creation capability of financial sector in Australia is highly influenced by human capital. About two thirds of the sample companies have very low levels of intellectual capital efficiency. The performance of various components of VAIC and overall VAIC differs across all subsectors in the financial sector. Investment companies have high value VAIC due to higher a level of human capital efficiency, as compared to banks, insurance companies, diversified financials and RIETs. Insurance companies are more focussed on physical capital rather than human and structural capital leading to lower VAIC.
Research limitations/implications
The paper analyses IC performance of only one sector of the Australian economy and there is a relatively narrow three‐year period for the data collection. However, a comparative analysis of various sub sectors in the Australian financial sector justifies the contributions made by this study.
Practical implications
The findings may serve as a useful input for financial institutions to apply knowledge management in their institutions and in addressing the factors affecting IC performance in order to maximise their value creation. It will also help the management of companies in other sectors, especially those in knowledge‐based industries, in understanding the contributions of various components of intellectual capital in their growth.
Originality/value
This is the first paper that examines the relationship of intellectual capital performance with financial performance of financial sector companies in Australia.
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A.A. Ousama, Helmi Hammami and Mustafa Abdulkarim
The purpose of this study is to empirically investigate the impact of intellectual capital (IC) on the financial performance of Islamic banks operating in the Gulf Cooperation…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to empirically investigate the impact of intellectual capital (IC) on the financial performance of Islamic banks operating in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.
Design/methodology/approach
The study measures IC by the value added intellectual coefficient model. A regression analysis was used to assess the impact of IC on financial performance. The research sample consisted of Islamic banks operating in the GCC countries during the years 2011, 2012 and 2013. Data originated from the annual reports of Islamic banks.
Findings
The results support the thesis that IC has a positive impact on the financial performance of Islamic banks. Even though the average IC is lower than that reported in other studies, the positive effect on financial performance is obvious. The findings also show that human capital (HC) is higher than capital employed (CE) and structural capital (SC). The study reveals that SC has an insignificant impact on the financial performance of the Islamic banks compared to CE and HC.
Practical implications
The findings provide empirical evidence that IC affects the Islamic banks’ financial performance. It helps Islamic banks in the GCC countries to understand how to use their IC efficiently, especially SC as it is yet to be used efficiently. Also, the findings benefit the relevant authorities (e.g. legislators and central banks) who could use them to emphasise strategic policy reforms whenever required.
Originality/value
The current research adds to the empirical studies in the GCC countries as it views the region as a collective as opposed to individual countries. It also extends the IC and performance measurement literature of Islamic banks in the GCC countries. Moreover, the current study enriches the limited literature on IC in the context of Islamic banking.
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Zhouhai Chen, Hong Wang and Jiahao Hu
Food labels are increasingly used to provide information to consumers. As a common design strategy used for food package labels globally, label frame is often used to expand the…
Abstract
Purpose
Food labels are increasingly used to provide information to consumers. As a common design strategy used for food package labels globally, label frame is often used to expand the perceived breadth of a brand and create a broader brand image. We evaluated the effect of the presence or absence of a non-genetically modified organism (non-GMO) label frame on consumers' preferences for non-GMO foods.
Design/methodology/approach
This study collected data from 120 MBA students at a university in Sichuan, China, and 126 foreign volunteers in a shopping mall in Chengdu, Sichuan Province. The study investigates the effect of the presence or absence of non-GMO label frame (i.e. label with or without an outline) on non-GMO food preferences through a field survey and two controlled experiments. To empirically analyse the psychological mechanisms by which non-GMO label frames affect consumers' preferences for non-GMO food, we set up the mediating variable of food association of safety.
Findings
For ordinary consumers, a framed non-GMO label is more likely to evoke food association of safety and further enhance consumer preference for non-GMO foods. It facilitates consumers' choice of healthier foods. This finding did not otherwise vary across demographic characteristics.
Originality/value
This study is the first to examine the influence of non-GMO label frames on consumers' non-GMO food preferences, which is an innovative research question. The findings of this study are instructive for food manufacturers and policymakers to better design and use non-GMO label frames to attract more consumers to choose non-GMO foods.
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Yanyu Wang, Xin Su, Huan Wang and Renyu Zou
As the carrier of knowledge, intellectual capital plays a crucial role in technology capability. However, most of the previous studies focus on technological capability from a…
Abstract
Purpose
As the carrier of knowledge, intellectual capital plays a crucial role in technology capability. However, most of the previous studies focus on technological capability from a static perspective, rather than take dynamic technology capability into consideration. Based on this research gap, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of intellectual capital and its sub-dimensions on dynamic technology capability, measuring by the factor scores of five technological input and output variables.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors combine the system dynamic method and empirical study to guarantee the internal and external validity. Specifically, the authors design the system dynamic model and simulation to analyze the system mechanism of intellectual capital and its sub-dimensions on dynamic technology capabilities from four cause and effect feedback loops. Then, the authors propose eight hypotheses based on this system dynamic model. In the empirical test phase, the authors employed a panel data set pertaining to Chinese manufacturing firms from 2007 to 2017, and adopted the fixed effect panel model according to Hausman test.
Findings
The authors find that intellectual capital efficiency (ICE) and its sub-dimensions (i.e. human capital efficiency, organizational capital efficiency and capital employed efficiency (CEE) have significantly positive impacts on dynamic technology capability. The results also show that the positive effects of ICE and OC on dynamic technology capability would be strengthened in state-owned enterprises compared with non-state-owned enterprises, while this moderation effect is weakened on the relationship between CEE and dynamic technology capability.
Originality/value
In this study, the authors first introduce the system dynamic method to explore the relationship of intellectual capital and dynamic technology capability, which is a valuable trial on combining system science and empirical study. Additionally, the authors continue to expand the dynamic technology capability from the intellectual capital perspective, and also find the moderating effect from the ownership aspect. It is beneficial to the theoretical development of intellectual capital and dynamic technology capability. Furthermore, the authors provide significant inspirations and implications for enterprise’s managers.
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Chao Fu, Qing Lv and Reza G. Badrnejad
Fog computing (FC) is a new field of research and has emerged as a complement to the cloud, which can mitigate the problems inherent to the cloud computing (CC) and internet of…
Abstract
Purpose
Fog computing (FC) is a new field of research and has emerged as a complement to the cloud, which can mitigate the problems inherent to the cloud computing (CC) and internet of things (IoT) model such as unreliable latency, bandwidth constraints, security and mobility. Because there is no comprehensive study on the FC in health management processing systems techniques, this paper aims at surveying and analyzing the existing techniques systematically as well as offering some suggestions for upcoming works.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper complies with the methodological requirements of systematic literature reviews (SLR). The present paper investigates the newest systems and studies their practical techniques in detail. The applications of FC in health management systems have been categorized into three major groups, including review articles, data analysis, frameworks and models mechanisms.
Findings
The results have indicated that despite the popularity of FC as having real-time processing, low latency, dynamic configuration, scalability, low reaction time (less than a second), high bandwidth, battery life and network traffic, a few issues remain unanswered, such as security. The most recent research has focused on improvements in remote monitoring of the patients, such as less latency and rapid response. Also, the results have shown the application of qualitative methodology and case study in the use of FC in health management systems. While FC studies are growing in the clinical field, CC studies are decreasing.
Research limitations/implications
This study aims to be comprehensive, but there are some limitations. This research has only surveyed the articles that are mined, according to a keyword exploration of FC health, FC health care, FC health big data and FC health management system. Fog-based applications in the health management system may not be published with determined keywords. Moreover, the publications written in non-English languages have been ignored. Some important research studies may be printed in a language other than English.
Practical implications
The results of this survey will be valuable for academicians, and these can provide visions into future research areas in this domain. This survey helps the hospitals and related industries to identify FC needs. Moreover, the disadvantages and advantages of the above systems have been studied, and their key issues have been emphasized to develop a more effective FC in health management processing mechanisms over IoT in the future.
Originality/value
Previous literature review studies in the field of SLR have used a simple literature review to find the tasks and challenges in the field. In this study, for the first time, the FC in health management processing systems is applied in a systematic review focused on the mediating role of the IoT and thereby provides a novel contribution. An SLR is conducted to find more specific answers to the proposed research questions. SLR helps to reduce implicit researcher bias. Through the adoption of broad search strategies, predefined search strings and uniform inclusion and exclusion criteria, SLR effectively forces researchers to search for studies beyond their subject areas and networks.
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Dezhi Li, Huan Zhou, Shenghua Zhou, Guanying Huang, Xiaoming Ma, Yongheng Zhao, Wentao Wang and S. Thomas Ng
The study aims to pioneer an innovative approach for the evaluation of government portal websites (GPWs) by introducing an eye-tracking-based method. The research meticulously…
Abstract
Purpose
The study aims to pioneer an innovative approach for the evaluation of government portal websites (GPWs) by introducing an eye-tracking-based method. The research meticulously pinpoints and analyses the distinct usability issues and challenges that users encounter while navigating and interacting with GPWs.
Design/methodology/approach
This study devises an eye-tracking-based GPW usability evaluation approach, which focuses on the major functions (i.e. government information disclosure, government services and interactive responses) of GPWs. An Entropy Weighted Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to an Ideal Solution (EW-TOPSIS) method is employed to process eye-tracking indicator results for deriving GPW usability results.
Findings
The proposed approach is demonstrated to assess the usability of 12 GPWs in pilot smart cities in China, and it is found that most GPWs have lower-than-average usability. GPWs with low usability require more cognitive load that exhibit increased fixation and saccade. The comparisons among the GPW usability results from (1) the eye-tracking experiment, (2) questionnaire surveys and (3) the ready-made performance evaluation report validate the effectiveness of eye-tracking-based GPW usability evaluation.
Originality/value
The work contributes to shifting the GPW usability evaluation approach from a subjective judgment paradigm to an objective paradigm, as well as provides implications for enhancing GPW usability, including improving search function, reducing website complexity and prioritizing user needs.
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The purpose of this paper is to propose a new video prediction-based methodology to solve the manufactural occlusion problem, which causes the loss of input images and uncertain…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to propose a new video prediction-based methodology to solve the manufactural occlusion problem, which causes the loss of input images and uncertain controller parameters for the robot visual servo control.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper has put forward a method that can simultaneously generate images and controller parameter increments. Then, this paper also introduced target segmentation and designed a new comprehensive loss. Finally, this paper combines offline training to generate images and online training to generate controller parameter increments.
Findings
The data set experiments to prove that this method is better than the other four methods, and it can better restore the occluded situation of the human body in six manufactural scenarios. The simulation experiment proves that it can simultaneously generate image and controller parameter variations to improve the position accuracy of tracking under occlusions in manufacture.
Originality/value
The proposed method can effectively solve the occlusion problem in visual servo control.