Search results

Aim of the present monograph is the economic analysis of the role of MNEs regarding globalisation and digital economy and in parallel there is a reference and examination of some legal aspects concerning MNEs, cyberspace and e‐commerce as the means of expression of the digital economy. The whole effort of the author is focused on the examination of various aspects of MNEs and their impact upon globalisation and vice versa and how and if we are moving towards a global digital economy.

The past two decades have witnessed significant changes in China as it has moved from a centrally planned economy to a more market‐oriented one. As a socialist nation, state owned enterprises (SOEs) continue to comprise a dominant part of economic activity in China. While many SOEs are inefficient and incur losses, economic reforms since the late 1970s have brought about irrevocable changes in the manner in which Chinese SOEs conduct their business. The important agenda for the Chinese government now is how to “vitalize” state sectors and ensure that SOEs are able to strive for their own survival. SOEs therefore are exploring ways to improve the productivity of their current operation and to enhance innovativeness in their business development, including seeking financial and technological resources overseas. The varying levels of market‐orientation in SOEs present diverse outcomes for the SOEs. This study attempts to evaluate the extent to which the SOEs have adopted market‐based organizational learning (Sinkula, Baker, and Noordewier 1997), market orientation (Deshpande and Farley 1998), entrepreneurial orientation (Smart and Conant 1994), and learning and innovativeness (Hurley and Hult 1998).

There is an overemphasis on an outside‐in, macro‐organizational view of learning and an under‐emphasis on the inside‐out view which recognizes that people are the main agents of learning and change. Attempts at building a learning organization should start with an understanding of how adults learn and develop rather than elaborate ideas about competitive strategy, market research and information dissemination. Adult learning theory tells us that people learn primarily by being encouraged to tackle challenges, experiment, fail and correct failures and reflect on their experiences. The challenge in building learning organizations is fighting the bureaucratization that often replaces experimentation with control and routine. This paper examines the literature on market orientation, organizational learning and adult learning theory to identify how individual level learning can be maximized as a mechanism for enhancing organizational learning. Recommendations are made to integrate these streams of research and offer suggestions for further research.

A series of interviews were conducted with 12 experienced Organization Development (OD) practitioners in order to explore the impact that changes in the business world may have had on the values of the field. Eight major themes emerged from these interviews: (1) OD practitioners are driven by large system change; (2) humanistic values remain at the core of OD efforts; (3) practitioners are focusing more on business effectiveness issues; (4) achieving personal goals and rewards are strong motivators; (5) practitioners sometimes project their own issues and problems onto clients; (6) some operate as fringe dwellers on the margin of commitment to organizations; (7) the OD missionary is alive but not well; and (8) training for the field is a severe problem – there are too few mentors for the number of people entering the field. Addresses implications for the field of OD.

China’s economy is transforming at a brisk pace. A partially dismantled command economy and introduction of competition have fueled consumer demand for a greater selection of innovative new products in the retail market. The challenge for retail buyers is to adjust their procurement processes to respond to consumer needs in an efficient and effective manner. This study examines factors influencing buyer‐supplier relationships in a transition economy. We present a model to explain the factors driving retail buyer dependence on suppliers. We find that retailer evaluation of supplier credibility mediates the relationship between retailer perceptions of a supplier ability to add value to its business and the ability to achieve its desired goals. In part, this is due to the supplier’s market orientation. Interestingly, guanxi ties have no impact on the retailer perceptions of the supplier credibility, but have a positive affect on retailer dependence on its supplier partners.

The service profit chain postulates that higher employee satisfaction levels lead to high customer satisfaction, and ultimately affect consumer loyalty and profitability. One construct that has largely been ignored in most of this research has been the role of employee turnover. This paper proposes that employee turnover can also be a powerful predictor of employee sentiment and resulting customer satisfaction levels.

The relationship between employee satisfaction, employee turnover and customer satisfaction ratings is explored using an extensive data set from a chain of convenience stores. Employee perceptions were obtained from a survey which developed and administered to all store personnel. Turnover data were obtained from archival data. The data are analyzed using path analysis.

The test of various turnover indicators suggests that certain employee turnover indicators can perform as effectively as single‐item employee satisfaction ratings do in predicting customer satisfaction.

The finding that turnover predicts customer satisfaction as effectively as employee satisfaction is new and has important implications. More attention should be paid to managing customer satisfaction through managing turnover. Also, the use of turnover as an indicator of customer satisfaction should be explored in light of the fact that employee turnover is a naturally collected managerial measure, and does not require the costly administration of employee satisfaction surveys.

This paper has two purposes. First is to operationalise the concepts of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and trust in the context of a developing country, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Second purpose is to test in a disaggregated perspective the impact of each CSR dimension on trust.

Data were collected from 264 customers of six banks and processed with exploratory, confirmatory factor analysis and structural equations using LISREL 9.1.

CSR is found to have five dimensions: legal responsibility, social needs responsibility, product responsibility, environmental responsibility and employee responsibility; trust is found to be a three-dimensional construct: integrity, compassion and partnership. Each CSR dimension has a positive impact on customers' perception of trustworthiness.

Reliability of trust is not high enough, suggesting the need to deepen research in order to find a more adapted CSR scale for banks. The smallness of sample size might have influenced the robustness of our psychometric results. CSR and trust relationships might be analysed in a more enriched framework including service quality, reputation and banks' employee performance as moderating variables. This paper has measured the two concepts from the customers' perspective only. However, both CSR and trust are best understood in a stakeholder perspective. So, it might be insightful to extend future research in a stakeholder orientation perspective.

Banks from developing countries are also concerned with CSR and should invest in it. Clearly, each dimension of CSR should receive enough importance if Congolese banks are to recover their customers' trust. The findings of the study also suggest that banks' customers are aware of the necessity for banks to comply with the country's legislation. Non-compliance can have severe influence on customers' trustworthiness to banks.

Financial institutions are generally evaluated through financial indicators. The findings suggest that banks customers and other stakeholders begin a shift towards requiring their banks to invest in social and environmental activities in order to improve their local milieu. These aspects are still very neglected, or adopted only as marketing strategies to improve image, without a true willingness to be socially responsive.

The two concepts are measured in a context where they did not receive enough importance (developing country), hence providing new knowledge in the field. Further, a disaggregated approach allowed understanding the way each CSR dimension impacts trust, which had not been the case in previous research.

The purpose of this paper is to explore a stakeholder trust model of organizations and applies the model to diagnose the loss of trust in large banks (Universal and Investment Banks) after the global financial crisis (GFC). Prescriptions for the repair of trust are offered along with the diagnosis.

The theoretical underpinnings of the stakeholder trust model of organizations are supported using the literature in marketing and management. Case study data on large and community banks are used to explore differences in these type of banks as they relate to trustworthiness as articulated in the stakeholder trust model of organizations.

The stakeholder trust model of organizations and six dimensions of trustworthiness help to explain why trust eroded in large banks during the GFC but increased or remained stable among some community banks. This diagnosis of the loss of trust also points to interventions that will be necessary to restore trust going forward among large banks.

Scholars in marketing need to develop a more macro view of the firm that examines trust beyond customers to reflect a wider stakeholder focus and issues of corporate social responsibility, trust reputation and license to operate.

This paper points out strategic changes, some of which are radical, that will be required to restore and sustain stakeholder trust in large banks.

Building trustworthy banks is essential to social and economic progress.

This paper addresses a void in marketing research by moving beyond the product and transactional level focus and framing a more macro oriented approach to understand trust in banks.

Aarhus Kommunes Biblioteker (Teknisk Bibliotek), Ingerslevs Plads 7, Aarhus, Denmark. Representative: V. NEDERGAARD PEDERSEN (Librarian).