John Bello, aka the “Lizard King,” has been lionized in the business press as having been the brilliant entrepreneur who started a beverage company from scratch in early 1995 with…
Abstract
John Bello, aka the “Lizard King,” has been lionized in the business press as having been the brilliant entrepreneur who started a beverage company from scratch in early 1995 with his partner, Tom Schwalm, and then sold the product line to PepsiCo seven years later for a reported $375 million. What many people do not know is how close Bello came to failing with his SoBe line of innovative drinks.
This paper presents a systematic method for classifying research on international channels of distribution. It is used to examine 79 articles published during an 18‐year period…
Abstract
This paper presents a systematic method for classifying research on international channels of distribution. It is used to examine 79 articles published during an 18‐year period (1988‐2005). Based on content analysis, each article is classified by its primary research framework. Two frameworks are identified: (1) structural ‐ based on the economic and organizational aspects of international channels of distribution; and (2) behavioral ‐ based on the exchange relationship between channel members from different national environments. This simple organizing system offers a comprehensive way to analyze scholarship that has emerged in the field. For managers, it can bring the theoretical and practical developments together in an understandable fashion as they seek to interpret and apply research findings. For scholars, it may bring focus to an increasingly complex area of international business and guide future research efforts.
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Research on the practice of child marriage has been extensive, with studies recommending local strategies that are peculiar to the countries involved. Rights-based literature also…
Abstract
Research on the practice of child marriage has been extensive, with studies recommending local strategies that are peculiar to the countries involved. Rights-based literature also recommends stringent laws; portraying the girls involved as helpless victims needing external agencies to rescue them from parochial and oppressive cultural practices. This chapter, however, presents their resilience as they navigate through the challenges and trauma of demeaning marriage practices. Their ability to rise above the challenges of child marriage contradicts the stereotypical perception of being passive and unable to develop agency and empower themselves. The author also draw from the experiences of these young women to argue for restorative justice (RJ) to tackle child marriage issues. Indeed, a restorative process is likely to prove far more effective in achieving social discipline than the current reliance on punishment and sanctions. More so, harm as a result of child marriage is a violation against the victim and not necessarily the state. Hence, RJ, which is future-focussed with healing and prevention as key goals, would be more suitable.
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This study aims to examine the antecedents and consequences of a cooperative norm in exporter‐importer relationships. Moreover, it seeks to investigates the impact of the past…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the antecedents and consequences of a cooperative norm in exporter‐importer relationships. Moreover, it seeks to investigates the impact of the past economic performance of the venture on the effectiveness of interfirm cooperation.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey was conducted among a sample of French exporters. Data on 283 exporter‐importer relationships were analyzed using structural equations modeling.
Findings
Trust and continuity expectations foster the development of a cooperative norm, which in turn enhances importers' distributive performance. The study also shows that the effectiveness of cooperation increases in a low‐performance context.
Practical implications
Exporters can improve the performance of their cross‐border business relationships by fostering the development of behavioral norms. The findings suggest that a norm of cooperation helps coordinate partners' behaviors in an international exchange. The effectiveness of such a norm increases in bad times, which supports the notion that cooperation can be viewed as a tool to turn around failing export ventures.
Originality/value
Unlike previous studies on exporter‐importer relationships, this study conceptualizes and operationalizes cooperation as a behavioral norm. This new conceptualization of cooperation makes it possible to assess its influence on the importer's distributive performance, which conditions the success of the export venture. Another distinguishing feature of this study is that it evaluates the effect of past performance on the effectiveness of cooperation. It is shown that cooperation can be used to improve failing business relationships. Thus, cooperation can be an alternative to costly formal governance mechanisms and time‐consuming searches for new foreign representatives to replace terminated ventures.
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Ismail Bello and Muhammad Fuad Othman
There are over 263m out-of-school children in the world, and Nigeria is not an exception to the problem facing basic education. Education provides the necessary skills and…
Abstract
Purpose
There are over 263m out-of-school children in the world, and Nigeria is not an exception to the problem facing basic education. Education provides the necessary skills and knowledge needed by people in other to live a better life. The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of multinational corporations (MNC) towards basic education development in Nigeria using Etisalat Telecommunication as a case study.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative method of data collection and analysis was used for the study. Interviews were conducted with 15 participants. NVivo software was utilized in transcription, coding and analysis of data from the interview conducted.
Findings
Findings from the research revealed that Etisalat has made a significant contribution towards the development of the education sector in Nigeria, particularly basic education. This is evident in “adopt a school” initiative across the country. Etisalat intervention is in line with Sustainable Development Goal 4: quality education, which has led to improved infrastructure, school enrolment and most importantly improved quality of learning.
Practical implications
This study will help educational institutions, government and international organization explore ways of utilizing private funds to develop basic education, not only in Nigeria but other climes around the world.
Originality/value
This study adds to the literature on the role of non-state actors, especially MNC, towards developing the education sector in Nigeria. Previous studies have focussed on MNCs in other sectors; the use of Etisalat Telecommunication opens a new frontier in understanding the role of telecommunications MNCs in developing basic education in Nigeria.
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This chapter explores a number of relatively unknown aspects of the controversy over Milton Friedman’s March 1975 visit to Chile through the analytical framework provided by James…
Abstract
This chapter explores a number of relatively unknown aspects of the controversy over Milton Friedman’s March 1975 visit to Chile through the analytical framework provided by James M. Buchanan’s late 1950s assessment of the economist-physician analogy. The chapter draws upon a range of archival and neglected primary sources to show that the topics which generally rear their head in any contemporary discussion of Friedman’s visit to Chile – for example, whether it is appropriate to provide policy advice to a dictator – were aired in a largely private mid-1970s exchange between Friedman and a number of professional associates. In particular, the controversy over Friedman and Chile began several months before Friedman arrived in Santiago.
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This study seeks to investigate the benefits that trigger exporters' attitudinal commitment and examines their effects by taking into account the temporal dynamics of cross‐border…
Abstract
Purpose
This study seeks to investigate the benefits that trigger exporters' attitudinal commitment and examines their effects by taking into account the temporal dynamics of cross‐border interfirm relationships.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative field study led to the generation of hypotheses that were subsequently tested with structural equations modeling using data collected during two consecutive surveys of exporters.
Findings
The economic benefits that foster exporter's commitment include importer's specific investments, importer role performance, and exporter economic performance.
Practical implications
Importers can secure their foreign suppliers' commitment by investing in their business relationships and improving their distributive performance. They also need to monitor exporters' economic performance. The study highlights the importance of exporters' perceptions in building their commitment. Thus, importers need to communicate intensively about their actions to promote exporters' brands.
Originality/value
Unlike previous research, which has focused mostly on behavioral antecedents of commitment, this study depicts the exporting context using the exporter perspective and highlights the importance of economic benefits in shaping their attitudes. A mixed design involving both qualitative and quantitative methodologies facilitates this approach. Relational exchange theory's temporal assumptions about business relationships are reflected by the use of longitudinal data.
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Indigenous-state relations in Chile are being reconfigured around a political rationality and productive logic of “calculative choice,” through the government-run participatory…
Abstract
Indigenous-state relations in Chile are being reconfigured around a political rationality and productive logic of “calculative choice,” through the government-run participatory development program Programa Orígenes. Financed by the Chilean state and the Inter-American Development Bank, Orígenes is broadly designed to address productive development, bilingual education, health care, and public services in rural indigenous communities. The technologies of Orígenes include participatory planning, planning tables, and audit. I argue that bureaucrats and indigenous peoples who participate are subjected to subject-making technologies that are integral to a rationalizing and transformative neoliberal assemblage of legal and policy instruments and practices.
Zhenfeng Liu, Yujie Wang and Jian Feng
This paper aims to study vehicle-type strategies for the manufacturer's car sharing by accounting for consumers' behavior and the subsidy.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to study vehicle-type strategies for the manufacturer's car sharing by accounting for consumers' behavior and the subsidy.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors develop a game model, in which a monopoly manufacturer that can produce gasoline vehicles (GVs) or energy vehicles (EVs) not only sells vehicles in the sales market, but also rents them out in the sharing market by the self-built platform. The manufacturer strategically chooses which type of vehicles based on consumers' behavior and whether the government provides the EVs’ subsidy.
Findings
When consumers' low-carbon awareness is relatively high or the marginal cost is low, the manufacturer chooses EVs. The manufacturer chooses GVs when the low-carbon awareness and the marginal cost are low. Only when the low-carbon awareness and the subsidy are not too low, the manufacturer who originally chose GVs launches EVs. When the low-carbon awareness is high, the excessive subsidy discourages the manufacturer from entering the sharing market. If the government provides the subsidy, the manufacturer launches high-end EVs. Otherwise, the manufacturer launches low-end EVs. Moreover, the subsidy increases consumer surplus and social welfare since the high subsidy makes EVs’ sharing market demand be negative.
Originality/value
This study enriches the literature on vehicle-type strategies for the manufacturer's car sharing, owns a practical significance to guide the manufacturer's operation management in the car sharing market and provides advice on whether the government should provide EVs’ subsidy.
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I learned my first important lesson on research from the research design seminars offered by Drs Tamer Cavusgil and Roger Calantone. During my first semester in the Ph.D. program…
Abstract
I learned my first important lesson on research from the research design seminars offered by Drs Tamer Cavusgil and Roger Calantone. During my first semester in the Ph.D. program, I took a Ph.D. seminar class, international business research with Dr. Tamer Cavusgil. In that class, each student was asked to select a topic to research, present findings to the rest of the class, and write a term paper that could be turned into a potential publication. In the midst of my struggle to find this big bang topic that could lead to a potential publication, Dr. Tamer Cavusgil showed us a few surveys designed by previous Ph.D. students. He mentioned that we could use these surveys as guidelines to develop our own thoughts. These surveys turned out to be the concrete piece of information that I needed to be on track with my research. Prior to this, I had gained some interests in understanding how trust and relational norms govern inter-organizational relationships. One of the surveys Dr. Cavusgil passed to us happened to be about this research area. Under the guidance of Drs Cavusgil and Joseph Bonner, I developed my first research ideas on understanding the third way of governance, relational norms in international channels of distribution.