不确定环境下战略性债务融资与寡头竞争的互动研究

本文通过构建一个两阶段的博弈模型,考虑不确定环境下企业的产品市场竞争策略和资本市场上债务融资策略之间的内在战略关系,并在战略性债务融资的框架下,分析了市场进入中企业的竞争策略与融资策略的选择.得出二者之间存在双向互动关系的结论.     

Marketing electricity—A military approach

Marketing offers electric utilities an effective method for combating increased competition in end-use markets. Based on concentration, manoeuvre and speed, utilities can mount a strategic offensive. Such a campaign may involve one or more of the following elements: (1) become customer- and competitor-oriented throughout the organization; (2) set a command structure to integrate demand-side and supply-side options into a unified business plan; (3) seize the initiative from the competition by exploiting the unique attributes of electricity in a few, strategically selected market segments and conducting penetration attacks; (4) develop new uses of electricity to compensate for the saturation and efficiency of existing uses, and conducting flank attacks and guerilla attacks; (5) offer a menu of pricing options based on the differing needs of customers in separate market segments; and (6) in markets where electric use is dominant, conduct 'attack yourself' strategies to improve efficiency.     

Country institutional environments and international strategy: A review and analysis of the research

We review and analyze the growing body of literature that addresses the institutional context of international strategy. By examining articles in eleven major journals from January 2008 to July 2020, we identify six major categories of international strategies and implementation approaches: market entry and internationalization, political strategies, multinational technology and innovation, multinational corporate social responsibility, multinational headquarters and subsidiary relationships, and international human resources management. A parallel analysis of the relevant institutional variables categorizes institutions into eight types: economic institutions, political institutions, regulatory institutions, normative institutions, administrative institutions, cultural/cognitive institutions, demographic institutions, and knowledge institutions. These eight categories allow us to contextualize the institutional environment in which the six international strategies and implementation approaches are employed. Our review identifies important progress in international strategy research that has yielded a greater understanding of institutional impact on multinational activities. Yet, it also reveals that many areas of international strategy research remain fragmented, highlighting the need for future research and suggesting new directions for such investigations. Our analysis concludes by identifying knowledge gaps in each of the six strategy categories and making a series of suggestions for relevant future research.     

Trojan Horses or Local Allies: Host-country National Managers in Developing Market Subsidiaries

We investigate a multinational corporation's (MNC) decision to appoint host-country national (HCN) managers to foreign subsidiaries based on the institutional context of and familiarity with the host country. HCN managers are commonly associated with specialized knowledge, superior responsiveness, and higher legitimacy. Yet, we argue that local familiarity of HCNs can also be perceived as risky or harmful by MNC parents. We analyze how formal and informal institutions affect the trade-off between positive effects and potential costs associated with HCN managers (“Local allies” vs. “Trojan horses”). We find that legal institutions protect foreign MNCs from potential costs, encourage the use of HCNs and reinforce their benefits. Corruption and corruption distance, however, increase perceived costs associated with HCN managers up to a point at which they outweigh their perceived benefits.     

Institutional distance and the international market entry mode: A meta-analysis

With increasing interest in the internationalization of multinational enterprises, recent studies have focused on the differences between institutions in home and host countries and how they affect the strategic entry decisions of multinational enterprises, particularly the equity-based entry mode. However, the conclusions regarding institutional distance and the equity-based market entry mode are contradictory. This relationship is theoretically unclear and empirically inconsistent. To help resolve these contradictory findings, we conduct meta-analytic research on the relationship between institutional distance and equity-based entry mode. We investigate several moderators that may affect this relationship. These moderators can be divided into three types: measurement factors, such as indices, data sources, and calculation methods; contextual factors, such as industry, time of study, and country characteristics; and theoretical orientation. We offer theoretical insights and recommendations to improve the validity and reliability of research on institutional distance, equity-based entry mode, and ideas for future research.     

跨国经营海外子公司业务发展中企业的战略选择——辉瑞制药中国公司在华生产范围发展路径(1993~2002年)的启示

经济全球化给更多企业带来了跨国经营的机会与动力。本文着重分析在跨国经营中海外子公司在当地的业务范围如何演化、其发展路径通常受哪些因素的影响,而企业又可以通过做出哪些战略选择来更好地调节其发展路径。通过对辉瑞制药中国公司在1993￣2002年期间在华生产范围发展路径的描述和分析,本文提出两个观点。一是在跨国经营中企业通常面临保持公司在全球的业务整合以及适应当地市场具体条件的双重压力,当两者之间存在较大差异时,由于决策者的认知受有限理性的制约,海外子公司的业务并不会按现有文献中所提出的按母公司已有业务从强到弱顺序发展,而是呈现迂回发展的路径。二是企业可以通过对战略变量的参数的选择来调节其海外子公司的业务发展,而这样的参数调节过程有助于企业通过试探逐渐积累关于当地市场的知识,从而在跨国经营的双重压力中获取平衡。通过上述分析,本文希冀对中国企业开展国际化经营提供的启示是当企业在海外扩张中面临陌生的环境时,对当地市场的特性给予足够的关注并保持战略上的灵活性是取得成功的关键。     

Subsidiary marketing knowledge and strategic development of the multinational corporation

This paper explores distinctive marketing knowledge of subsidiaries as an important resource contributing to the performance of the multinational corporation (MNC). Two different paths are analyzed. The first is the direct effect of the usage of subsidiary marketing knowledge on the perceived performance of other MNC units. The second is the indirect effect in which an MNC's usage of subsidiary marketing knowledge affects its performance via capability development in technology and market expansion within the MNC. Using data on 237 MNC subsidiaries in Sweden, six hypotheses are tested in a LISREL model. The results indicate that an MNC's usage of subsidiary marketing knowledge directly affects its performance. Additionally, the results reveal a strong relation between subsidiary marketing knowledge and the subsidiary's impact on development of the capabilities of other MNC units' technology and their expansion on the market, which in turn, positively impacts the performance of the MNC.     

Strategic Influences of Technological Innovation in Greece

This exploratory paper analyses the ‘importance’ and ‘awareness’ of a set of established ‘strategic’ influences of technological innovation in the context of a European newly‐industrialized country. The author interviewed 105 Greek manufacturing firms (mainly SMEs) and measured their perceived innovation rate as well as 17 ‘strategic’ factors regarding top‐management practices and characteristics. Using correlation and regression analysis the initial group of factors was reduced to a subset of five ‘major importance’ influences of innovation, namely: incorporation of technology plans in the business strategy, managerial attitude towards risk, perceived intensity of competition and rate of change of customer needs, and finally status of the CEO (owner‐CEOs were associated with higher innovation rate than appointed CEOs). The ‘statistical’ results are exploratory and have to be treated with caution, as they are highly dependent on the accuracy of the respondents' perception of their company's innovation rate and top‐management practices and characteristics. The ‘statistical’ results were then compared with the managers' perception on the important factors determining innovation (also measured during the interviews). Overall the perceptual analysis confirmed the significance of the statistically important variables, with the exception of a disagreement in the direction of association between the status of the CEO and the rate of innovation. In general, top‐management characteristics proved more important ‘strategic’ influences of innovation for the Greek SMEs than corporate practices. The study also indicated that the important influences of innovation were generally scarce in the Greek institutional context. The highly innovative companies were the ones to overcome country‐specific innovation barriers such as the low supply of technology, the low level of competition and the risk‐averse national culture.     

The development of global IT infrastructure

A research model of the impact of a multinational corporations’ (MNC) global strategic orientation on global IT infrastructure was developed using global integration, or the degree to which a global strategy is actually implemented, as a mediator. A “matched pair” survey of 94 MNCs was conducted (two respondents per firm) in order to guard against common source bias. The results showed that the firms that pursue a globally oriented strategy actually enacted these strategies as indicated by a wide-variety of resource flows across national units. The role of the level of global integration as a mediator between global strategic orientation and global IT capabilities was empirically demonstrated. This confirms that a global strategy is not sufficient to ensure that an enabling IT infrastructure will be developed; rather it is the actual level of integration and interdependence that is achieved as a result of the strategy that drives IT infrastructure. The primary areas in which global integration was found to be closely linked to the global IT infrastructure were human resources, which significantly influenced the reach, range, support services and planning of the global IT infrastructure, and information resources which significantly influenced the planning dimension of the infrastructure. These results strongly suggest that the transfer of people among national units creates an information needs “pull” which leads to the development of better IT infrastructure and that the “push” of standardized information also contributes positively.     

制造商技术开放策略问题研究

在高新科技领域，制造商往往需要面对技术优势与需求优势的选择问题，技术策略（开放/封闭）逐渐成为选择的关键。在产品需求理论的框架内，研究了制造商的技术策略问题，通过构建制造商技术策略模型，分析产品的网络外部性、规模经济效应以及新制造商对于制造商不同技术策略下最优利润的影响，进而得出制造商的技术策略、新制造商的市场进入策略及相应的市场结果。最后，文章进行了拓展，分别研究了存在多个新制造商和市场进入成本两种情况下各方策略及市场结果的变化。研究发现：（1）制造商数量对于潜在市场总需求的影响系数越大，制造商越倾向于选择技术开放策略；（2）适中的网络外部性强度和规模经济效应强度有利于制造商选择技术开放策略；（3）当新制造商数量增加时，制造商技术策略的变化方向由其初始技术策略所决定；（4）市场进入成本不会影响制造商的技术策略，却会改变技术开放策略下新制造商的市场进入策略，进而使得市场结果发生分化；（5）专利授权费会激励制造商选择技术开放策略。     

Putting Rational Blinders Behind Us: Behavioural Understandings of Finance and Strategic Management

Both financial economics and neoclassical economic approaches to strategy attempt to understand the operation of competitive markets assuming market equilibrium and optimising agents. These assumptions imply no strategies can exist that consistently outperform the market. However, behavioural finance results clearly demonstrate this implication is wrong. For strategic management, a theory that implies no rules exist to outperform the market cannot explain why some firms consistently perform better than others. This paper argues that a behavioural perspective of strategic management offers a coherent framework and set of assumptions that better inform the problems strategic management scholars attack.     

Rethinking Marketing Programs for Emerging Markets

This article points to a fundamental inconsistency in the emerging market strategies of multinational firms. On the one hand, they seek billions of new consumers in the emerging markets of China, India, Indonesia, and Latin America—on the other, their marketing programs are scarcely adapted for these markets. The result is low market penetration, disappointing market shares and poor profitability. These multinationals are trapped by their own devices in gilded cages, serving the affluent few but ignoring the potential of the billions of new consumers that attracted them in the first place. In this article we propose that, in order to attract billions of new consumers, the marketing programs of multinationals need to be rethought from the ground up. We identify three key factors that characterize emerging markets: (1) low incomes, (2) variability in consumers and infrastructure, and (3) the relative cheapness of labor, which is often substituted for capital. We draw on numerous case studies from around the world to illustrate how to incorporate these realities into marketing programs. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of such an approach for the multinational’s core strategic assumptions.     

A GAP FOR ME: ENTREPRENEURS AND ENTRY

We present a theory of entrepreneurial entry (and exit) decisions. Knowing their own managerial talent, entrepreneurs decide which market to enter, where markets differ in size. We obtain a striking sorting result: Each entrant in a large market is more efficient than any entrepreneur in a smaller market because competition is endogenously more intense in larger markets. This result continues to hold when entrepreneurs can export their output to other markets, thereby incurring a unit transport cost or tariff. The sorting and price competition effects imply that the number of entrants (and hence product variety) may actually be smaller in larger markets. In the stochastic dynamic extension of the model, we show that the churning rate of entrepreneurs is higher in larger markets. (JEL: L11, L13, M13, F12)     

An Exploratory Study of Procurement Strategies for Multi‐Item RFQs in B2B Markets: Antecedents and Impact on Performance

This research explores procurement strategies for multi‐item requests for quotation (RFQs) in business‐to‐business (B2B) markets using responses from 825 purchasing professionals. The study first establishes procurement strategies that differ based on their level of strategic emphasis, i.e., the importance that is placed on the pursuit of four strategic objectives. Underlying objectives, which are obtained via factor analysis, include the focus on price, security of supply, internal procurement efficiencies, and bundle building. Next, cluster analysis is used to derive prototypical strategic approaches. The three cluster groups that emerge possess the same relative ranking of the four objectives, but differ based on the intensity with which these objectives are pursued. The clusters are labelled as the three strategic groups of strategists, opportunists, and responders. The research then explores, using an industrial buyer behavior lens, the impact of environmental antecedents in determining a particular strategy. Environmental variables include purchase importance, market uncertainty, supply base availability, buyer bargaining power, item experience, and supply base experience. Finally, the study tests the impact of procurement strategy on the buyer's perceived performance, suggesting that strategists, placing more emphasis on the pursuit of strategic sourcing objectives, achieve better performance than opportunists and responders.     

How to beat early movers: The role of competitive strategy and industry dynamism on followers’ performance in the telecommunications industry

The idea of first-mover advantages is frequently used by both managers and academics alike. Despite its importance for understanding the performance of entry in new markets, the evidence remains mixed. Our study advances research on the entry timing-performance relationship by adopting a contingency perspective that includes both micro (competitive strategies) and macro (industry dynamics) dimensions to explain differences in entrants' profitability. In this paper we focus on follower firms and propose that cost leadership is the best strategy for them to successfully entering a market. In addition, recognizing the contingency effect of industry dynamism, we also examine how market growth and technology evolution affect the effectiveness of followers’ competitive strategies. Specifically, we propose that followers will be better off by using cost strategies in growing markets, while when operating in contexts of technological change the performance of the cost leadership strategy will be lower.     

Does attention from headquarters influence subsidiary behavior? A social psychological perspective

Prior research has not explored fully the effect of headquarters (HQ) attention on subsidiary behavior. We address the gap via a social psychological lens, proposing that subsidiaries with more HQ attention often deal with higher performance expectation in terms of contributing towards the MNC, and thus, they tend to have a greater participation in the activities that can demonstrate such contribution. We test the idea in the context of MNC knowledge flows, hypothesizing a positive correlation between HQ attention and a subsidiary's reverse knowledge, and further the moderation effects of a subsidiary's shared vision and local market performance. Results lend support for the model. The study introduces a novel perspective of how HQ attention may influence subsidiaries, as well as the importance of attention allocation for the multinational corporation (MNC).     

Strategies for declining industrial markets

A study of over three hundred industrial business in declining markets has identified a number of strategic factors and actions related to good performance in such markets. Three different performance criteria were examined: profitability, cash flow and gaining market's share. Three different types of market were identified. Certain strategic factors and actions are found to be beneficial in all three types of market, whilst others are effective only in specific market environments. The result of the study are valuable in obtaining a better understanding of businesses operating in declining markets, and can be used to developed a list of strategic actions that may be taken to improve the performance of such a business.     

Strategic Sourcing in the Presence of Uncertain Supply and Retail Competition

This study develops an analytical model to evaluate competing retail firms' sourcing strategies in the presence of supply uncertainty. We consider a common supplier that sells its uncertain supply to two downstream retail firms engaging in price competition in a horizontally differentiated product market. The focal firm has a dual‐sourcing option, while the rival firm can only source from the common supplier. We assess the system‐wide effects of supply uncertainty on the focal firm's incentive to pursue the dual‐sourcing strategy. We find that the focal firm's dual‐sourcing strategy can create a win–win situation that leads to increased retail prices and expected profits for both firms. Furthermore, under certain conditions, we show that it is beneficial for the focal firm to strategically source from the common supplier, even if its alternative supplier offers a lower wholesale price. Overall, we identify two types of incentives for adopting the dual‐sourcing strategy: the incentive of mitigating supply risk through supplier diversification and the incentive of strategic sourcing for more effective retail competition.     

Delegation,R&;D and competitiveness in a Bertrand duopoly

This paper studies the profitability of centralized investments in R&D versus decentralized price determination in a duopoly for Bertrand consumer markets. As a direct effect, R&D investments lower the firm’s production costs and thus increase c.p. the firm’s profits. However, as an indirect effect, lowering production costs causes market reactions and alters the competition between the firm and its competitors. In the extreme, aggressive competition can occur that diminish an investing firm’s profits. Delegating the price decision using an incentive contract distorts a manager’s perceived costs and induces a virtual cost increase in equilibrium. Trading off the factual cost reduction against a virtual cost increase we find that competition makes strategic delegation more attractive compared to investments in R&D. If firms are allowed to apply both strategies in combination, they concentrate on just one of them for strategic considerations.