Susanne Knoll, Antônio Domingos Padula, Julio Otávio Jardim Barcellos, Guilherme Pumi, Shudong Zhou and Funing Zhong
The purpose of this paper is to identify Brazilian and Chinese cultural, managerial and negotiation factors that can influence the beef trade between the two countries.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify Brazilian and Chinese cultural, managerial and negotiation factors that can influence the beef trade between the two countries.
Design/methodology/approach
First, a matrix based on reliable secondary sources was established created upon indicators of economic, financial, policy, administrative, cultural, demographic, knowledge, global connectedness and geographic distance between the two countries. This was combined with primary data from interviews conducted with two key stakeholders of the supply chain, namely, the Brazilian agricultural attaché to China, and the director of Apex-Brasil. The results were analysed in a qualitative descriptive manner.
Findings
Cultural and political distances between Brazil and China are the most profound origins of challenges in negotiations on both the private and public level.
Research limitations/implications
The interviews were limited in number and to the Brazilian portion of agents involved in the beef trade (diplomats and APEX representative). The low number of interviews might be a limiting factor of the investigation. However, the interviewees’ key position in the supply chain and data triangulation with secondary sources equilibrates the results’ trustworthiness.
Social implications
China and Brazil are becoming important players in the international market. Brazil has become a leader in the production and export of agricultural commodities. Brazil is the first producer or the second exporter of coffee, soybean, ethanol, poultry, sugar and beef. In 2009, China became Brazil’s top partner in trade (Xi, 2016). In 2015, Brazil exported $35.6bn to and imported $30.7bn from China. In the foreseeable future China will continue to be the most dynamic economy worldwide. This trade dynamic can be a source of opportunities for Chinese and Brazilian enterprises.
Originality/value
Information collected and conclusions drawn from the research are unique in scientific and management literature related to this specific topic, and can be of great value for stakeholders, traders and diplomats in the Sino-Brazilian trade.
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Susanne Knoll, Cristiane Soares Simon Marques, Jiacheng Liu, Funing Zhong, Antônio Domingos Padula and Júlio Otávio Jardim Barcellos
The flow of the Sino-Brazilian frozen beef trade has intensified. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to characterize the supply chain structure, and identify its major fragilities.
Abstract
Purpose
The flow of the Sino-Brazilian frozen beef trade has intensified. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to characterize the supply chain structure, and identify its major fragilities.
Design/methodology/approach
Supply chain mapping was conducted based on the existing literature and primary data collection. Key stakeholders were detected and questioned through semi-structured interviews, which were later interpreted with content analysis.
Findings
The results reveal a low degree of chain coordination from the Brazilian farm to the Chinese consumer, arising from an immature traceability mechanism, a limited flow of reliable information between the segments, and low trust between the stakeholders.
Research limitations/implications
The infancy of the beef trade, the paucity of literature on the topic, and restricted accessibility to key governmental and official materials imposes limits on the available information. Language and cultural barriers might have also impacted the interviewees’ responses. However, the participation of Brazilian and Chinese academics in both the interview analysis and chain mapping mitigates these shortcomings.
Practical implications
The Brazilian public and private sectors need to establish a reliable traceability system and information platform. This, together with investments in marketing and branding, would facilitate differential responses among traders and consumers, and, hence, improve supply chain sustainability.
Originality/value
By adopting an inter-country approach and directly sourcing views from specific key figures in the supply chain this study offers some unique insights and contributes to the literature on the emergence of a multi-polar global food trade.
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In this paper, I compare Theodore Schatzki’s practice theory, the existential phenomenology of Martin Heidegger upon whom Schatzki drew in its formation, and my own theory of…
Abstract
In this paper, I compare Theodore Schatzki’s practice theory, the existential phenomenology of Martin Heidegger upon whom Schatzki drew in its formation, and my own theory of institutional logics which I have sought to develop as a religious sociology of institution. I examine how Schatzki and I both differently locate our thinking at the level of practice. In this essay I also explore the possibility of appropriating Heidegger’s religious ontology of worldhood, which Schatzki rejects, in that project. My institutional logical position is an atheological religious one, poly-onto-teleological. Institutional logics are grounded in ultimate goods which are praiseworthy “objects” of striving and practice, signifieds to which elements of an institutional logic have a non-arbitrary relation, sources of and references for practical norms about how one should have, make, do or be that good, and a basis of knowing the world of practice as ordered around such goods. Institutional logics are constellations co-constituted by substances, not fields animated by values, interests or powers.
Because we are speaking against “values,” people are horrified at a philosophy that ostensibly dares to despise humanity’s best qualities. For what is more “logical” than that a thinking that denies values must necessarily pronounce everything valueless? Martin Heidegger, “Letter on Humanism” (2008a, p. 249).
Aarhus Kommunes Biblioteker (Teknisk Bibliotek), Ingerslevs Plads 7, Aarhus, Denmark. Representative: V. NEDERGAARD PEDERSEN (Librarian).
Mohammad A. Algarni, Murad Ali and Imran Ali
Previous research suggests the crucial role of parents in developing social behaviors of their children. However, less evidence is available on the role of parents in shaping…
Abstract
Purpose
Previous research suggests the crucial role of parents in developing social behaviors of their children. However, less evidence is available on the role of parents in shaping responsible financial management behavior among children for their later life. This study bridges this gap by investigating the role of financial parenting in improving well-being among young Saudi people. Particularly, this study examines the role of financial parenting, childhood financial socialization and childhood financial experiences in developing responsible financial self-efficacy and financial coping behaviors to determine financial well-being among young adults in Saudi Arabia.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses a two-step mixed-method approach comprising analyses of symmetric (net effects) and asymmetric (combinatory effects) modelling to test the proposed model. A symmetrical analysis examines the role of financial parenting factors that are sufficient for improving financial well-being among Saudis. An asymmetrical analysis is used to explore that a set of combinations of financial parenting conditions lead to high performance of financial well-being. Data have been collected from 350 students enrolled in undergraduate and postgraduate programs in Saudi Arabia.
Findings
According to asymmetric modeling (i.e. fsQCA) analysis, parents and practitioners can combine financial parenting, childhood financial socialization and childhood financial experiences along with financial self-efficacy and financial coping behaviors in a way that satisfied the conditions (i.e. causal antecedent conditions) leading to high financial well-being. Importantly, the condition of high financial well-being is not mirror opposite of causal antecedent conditions of low financial well-being.
Research limitations/implications
This study contributes to the current knowledge by applying both symmetrical and asymmetrical modelling to indicate a high level of financial well-being. Besides, there is sparse empirical evidence available in the context of Saudi Arabia on how financial parenting, socialization and financial experiences in childhood improve children's financial well-being in their later life.
Practical implications
According to asymmetric modeling (i.e. fsQCA) analysis, parents and practitioners can combine financial parenting, childhood financial socialization and childhood financial experiences along with financial self-efficacy and financial coping behaviors in a way that satisfied the conditions (i.e. causal antecedent conditions) leading to high financial well-being. Importantly, the condition of high financial well-being is not mirror opposite of causal antecedent conditions of low financial well-being. The parents and practitioners must be cautious to regulate the condition in which the combination of the antecedents is not in line with the causal recipes of financial well-being negation.
Originality/value
This study deepens the current knowledge by employing both symmetrical and asymmetrical analysis for testing structural and configurational models indicating the high performance of financial well-being . The study proposes and tests an integrated model to bring new contributions to prior literature. This study also attempts to propose valuable research directions for future researchers interested in the topic.
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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between the success of the 50 EURO STOXX companies as measured by the earnings before taxes (EBT) and the percentage…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between the success of the 50 EURO STOXX companies as measured by the earnings before taxes (EBT) and the percentage of female members on their supervisory boards.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper relies on data extracted from the annual reports of the 50 EURO STOXX companies in 2015 and from financial websites.
Findings
The paper provides the existence of a weak correlation between companies’ performance as measured by EBT and the percentage of women on supervisory boards.
Research limitations/implications
This study has two main limitations: first, a single key performance indicator was used to measure firms’ success; and second, the study offers insights related only to the year 2015. The analysis could be extended over a larger time span while some other variables could be considered in a more holistic approach.
Practical implications
The paper raises awareness that there is much to be done with regard to the presence of women on boards, and readers, investors and business owners gain an insight on the business environment and women active on European corporate boards.
Originality/value
By concentrating on the companies of the EURO STOXX 50 Index, the study offers a good image of the European business environment.
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A multinational firm’s expansion in a foreign market is a key issue of international business. The purpose of this study is to extend the understanding of essential drivers that…
Abstract
Purpose
A multinational firm’s expansion in a foreign market is a key issue of international business. The purpose of this study is to extend the understanding of essential drivers that will facilitate firm’s assessment of alternative modes of sequential expansion.
Design/methodology/approach
The study applies the knowledge-based view and explores a multinational firm’s sequential post-entry expansion in a foreign market. Event histories of Swedish industrial firms’ establishments of wholly owned subsidiaries in Germany, the UK and the USA were explored using Cox regression.
Findings
Broad market experiences stemming from corporate strategy and deep experiences from the preceding subsidiary increase the likelihood of a sequential investment. Effects of broad experiences are contingent on the context specified by the geographic scope of the firm and its general subsidiary experience.
Research limitations/implications
The study contributes to international expansion theory and integrates sources of knowledge originating from strategy theory and internationalization theory. The study shows that the dual approach is needed to understand international expansion.
Practical implications
In evaluating a further subsidiary investment in a foreign market, the multinational firm is advised to assess whether it possesses enough market experiences to justify the investment. The experiences should be associated with corporate strategy, the previous wholly owned subsidiary and the context specifications identified in the study.
Originality/value
The study is unique, as it addresses the simultaneous impact of broad and deep market experiences. Also, the inclusion of central context specifications makes the study novel.