Lili Mi, Yuanfei Kang and Yulong Liu
This paper aims to investigate the relationship between strategic asset-seeking intent and firms’ entry strategies of foreign investment in the context of emerging market firms.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the relationship between strategic asset-seeking intent and firms’ entry strategies of foreign investment in the context of emerging market firms.
Design/methodology/approach
This study is based on survey data of 392 Chinese foreign direct investment projects. Structural equation modelling is used for data analysis.
Findings
With stronger strategic asset-seeking intent, emerging market multinational enterprises are likely to locate their subsidiaries in developed countries, use a wholly owned subsidiary mode and invest with greater intensity, while they do not have a clear preference in entry timing.
Practical implications
The strategic asset-seeking intent applies not only to emerging market firms but also to small and medium firms in general that have limited resources and a need to catch up with stronger competitors. This study therefore provides guidance to these firms.
Originality/value
This study contributes by investigating how the strategic asset-seeking intent affects firms’ strategies. The findings have practical implications for strategic managerial decisions that lead to sustained competitive advantage and improved firm performance.
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Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to provide insights into the development of firm strategies of international expansion by examining the direct relationship between internationalization speed and firm performance and by exploring the interactive role played by networking capability.
Design/methodology/approach
This is an empirical study based on survey data collected from 343 small and medium-sized enterprises operating in Australia and New Zealand. Regression modelling analysis was performed.
Findings
This study found an inverted U-shape relationship between the speed at which a firm expands internationally and its performance. Expanding too fast or too slow leads to lower performance, and this performance implication is because of an interactive effect of the firm's networking capability.
Research limitations/implications
This study contributes to the literature by generating insights into how firm strategies of international expansion lead to improvement of firm performance, thereby giving guidance and providing suggestions to managers regarding how quickly to internationalize.
Practical implications
This study contributes to the literature by generating insights into how firm strategies of international expansion lead to improvement of firm performance and by providing suggestions to managers regarding decision-making in developing strategies for international expansion speed.
Originality/value
This is an original study based on empirical data collected from a management survey.
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This study aims to investigate how natural resource-seeking as a type of strategic intent influences foreign direct investment (FDI) location choice. Grounded in the strategic…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate how natural resource-seeking as a type of strategic intent influences foreign direct investment (FDI) location choice. Grounded in the strategic intent approach and institution theory, the authors developed an interactive conceptual framework by integrating natural resource-seeking intent (NRI) with regulatory institutional factors.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors developed an interactive conceptual framework by integrating NRI at a firm level with regulatory factors of governmental support, political risk and economic freedom at country level. Using empirical data from a sample of 137 Chinese outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) projects in 19 Asian countries, statistical analysis was conducted using a conditional logistic regression technique.
Findings
Empirical findings from our study suggest that NRI has a strong influence on OFDI location choice of the Chinese firms. More importantly, the results demonstrate that influence of NRI on location choice is contingent on the regulatory forces both in the home and host countries settings. NRI is more likely to influence FDI location choice when government support from the home country is stronger and/or when political risk in a host country FDI is higher.
Originality/value
This is an empirical-based original study, and it contributes to the literature in several ways. First, the study enriches the strategic intent approach by demonstrating the contingency conditions from regulatory factors, especially home government support on a firm’s pursuit of NRI. Second, the study provides an explanation for the behaviour pattern of Chinese OFDI regarding their response to political risk in a host country. Third, the study demonstrates the influence of “institutional embededness” on the firm’s strategic intent. Managerial and policy implications are also discussed.
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Bill Wang, Yuanfei Kang, Paul Childerhouse and Baofeng Huo
The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of interpersonal relationships (IPRs) in service supply chain integration (SSCI) in terms of strategic alliance, information…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of interpersonal relationships (IPRs) in service supply chain integration (SSCI) in terms of strategic alliance, information integration, and process integration.
Design/methodology/approach
The research employs an exploratory/investigational approach to multiple case studies and empirically investigates effects of IPRs in SSCI. The data were mainly collected through semi-structured interviews with senior management staff from four service companies and their suppliers or customers in New Zealand. Archival data from the Internet and company documentations were also applied.
Findings
The authors find that three dimensions of IPRs influence SSCI in different ways. The effect of IPRs on SSCI is indirect: personal affection acts as an initiator, and personal credibility works as a “gate-keeper” and strengthens the confidence of interactive partners, while personal communication, a facilitator, plays a more important role in SSCI than personal affection and credibility.
Practical implications
The research provides managers in service supply chains the awareness of the importance of IPRs, as well as the characteristics of IPRs, in order to best utilize available resources. Managers should synergize all three dimensions of IPRs’ resources: make efforts to cultivate personal affection to avoid the instinctive isolation modern technology brings; attempt to accumulate positive personal credibility profiles; focus more on the role of personal communication and retain physical contact in SSCI processes.
Originality/value
This study contributes to SSCI literature by extending from the inter-organizational relationships (IORs) to interpersonal level relationships to explore the inner influence mechanism. Also, it explores the role of IPRs on all three dimensions of SSCI simultaneously rather than individual dimensions independently. Finally, it contributes to resource orchestration theory (ROT) by synthesizing three dimensions of IPRs resources, and IORs resources in order to achieve capabilities of SSCI. The study develops the individual-level research in supply chain integration (SCI) to a further depth.
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Bill Wang, Yuanfei Kang, Paul Childerhouse and Baofeng Huo
The purpose of this paper is to examine how interpersonal relationships (IPRs) and inter-organisational relationships (IORs) interact with each other as driving forces of supply…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine how interpersonal relationships (IPRs) and inter-organisational relationships (IORs) interact with each other as driving forces of supply chain integration (SCI). More specifically (the) three dimensions of IPR – personal affection, personal credibility, and personal communication – are examined in regards to how they affect inter-organisational relationships during SCI.
Design/methodology/approach
The research employed an exploratory multiple case study approach with four New Zealand case companies selected as the empirical basis. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews of managerial executives in relation to supply chain activities, which were triangulated with company archival data.
Findings
The authors found that IPRs are able to interact with IORs to influence the integration of supply chains. More specifically, IPRs influence IORs by initiating organisational relationships in the SCI context; and influences from IPR dimensions on IORs tend to be of differing magnitudes and have different evolutional paths across the whole SCI process.
Originality/value
This research contributes to knowledge about the roles and mechanisms through which IPRs shape and enable inter-organisational level relationships within the SCI context.
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Bill Wang, Paul Childerhouse, Yuanfei Kang, Baofeng Huo and Sanjay Mathrani
Previous research on supply chain integration (SCI) enablers has primarily focussed on interorganizational relationships, the purpose of this paper is to broaden the discussion to…
Abstract
Purpose
Previous research on supply chain integration (SCI) enablers has primarily focussed on interorganizational relationships, the purpose of this paper is to broaden the discussion to include interpersonal relationships (IPRs).
Design/methodology/approach
Based on a comprehensive literature review, a series of propositions are postulated and synthesized into a conceptual model of how IPRs maintain and enable SCI, which is decomposed into strategic alliance, information sharing, and process coordination.
Findings
The authors find that IPRs including personal affection, communication, and credibility, have a positive influence on SCI, and these links are mediated by interorganizational relationships including trust, commitment, and power.
Originality/value
The framework developed in this study provides new insights into the role of interpersonal networks in interorganizational relationships, which lead to SCI.
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Diego Quer-Ramón, Enrique Claver-Cortés and Laura Rienda-García
Since the beginning of the 21st century, China’s outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) is growing steadily and Chinese multinationals (MNCs) are playing an increasingly…
Abstract
Purpose
Since the beginning of the 21st century, China’s outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) is growing steadily and Chinese multinationals (MNCs) are playing an increasingly important role in the global economy. Thus, the number of papers focusing on China’s OFDI and Chinese MNCs has been increasing during the last years. The aim of this chapter is to carry out a review of the empirical papers dealing with Chinese MNCs published between 2002 and 2012 in high-impact international business and management journals.
Design/methodology/approach
This chapter reviews 43 empirical papers focusing on Chinese MNCs that were published in nine major scholarly journals between 2002 and 2012.
Findings
We report individual and institutional contributions, the theories and methods used, the research topics, and the main findings. We also discuss implications for future research.
Originality/value
Some previous literature reviews have dealt with research on China’s OFDI and Chinese MNCs. Nevertheless, none of the earlier reviews dealt specifically with empirical papers; neither did they provide an analysis of both individual and institutional contributions.
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Baoxu Tu, Yuanfei Zhang, Kang Min, Fenglei Ni and Minghe Jin
This paper aims to estimate contact location from sparse and high-dimensional soft tactile array sensor data using the tactile image. The authors used three feature extraction…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to estimate contact location from sparse and high-dimensional soft tactile array sensor data using the tactile image. The authors used three feature extraction methods: handcrafted features, convolutional features and autoencoder features. Subsequently, these features were mapped to contact locations through a contact location regression network. Finally, the network performance was evaluated using spherical fittings of three different radii to further determine the optimal feature extraction method.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper aims to estimate contact location from sparse and high-dimensional soft tactile array sensor data using the tactile image.
Findings
This research indicates that data collected by probes can be used for contact localization. Introducing a batch normalization layer after the feature extraction stage significantly enhances the model’s generalization performance. Through qualitative and quantitative analyses, the authors conclude that convolutional methods can more accurately estimate contact locations.
Originality/value
The paper provides both qualitative and quantitative analyses of the performance of three contact localization methods across different datasets. To address the challenge of obtaining accurate contact locations in quantitative analysis, an indirect measurement metric is proposed.
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Mingu Kang, Ma Ga (Mark) Yang, Youngwon Park and Baofeng Huo
The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of supply chain integration (SCI) in improving sustainability management practices (SMPs) and performance.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of supply chain integration (SCI) in improving sustainability management practices (SMPs) and performance.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on data collected from 931 manufacturing firms in multiple countries and regions, the authors conducted a structural equation modeling analysis to test the proposed hypotheses.
Findings
The findings suggest that supplier and customer integration are vital enablers for both intra- and inter-organizational SMPs. The results also reveal that both intra- and inter-organizational SMPs are significantly and positively associated with sustainability performance (i.e. economic, environmental and social performance) and function as complements to jointly enhance environmental and social performance.
Originality/value
This study incorporates SCI into the sustainability literature, providing a new perspective on sustainability and supply chain management research.