Managing “forced” technology transfer in emerging markets: The case of China

This paper explores how foreign multinational corporations (MNCs) manage risks associated with “forced” technology transfer (“FTT”) policies in emerging markets. Although MNCs are increasingly exposed to appropriability risks from these policies, how they respond is relatively understudied in international business (IB) research. We explore this topic based upon a survey and interviews with Western MNCs doing business in China, as well as a discussion about the recent US-China trade war. We find that, as traditional IB theory would predict, internally-oriented strategies (e.g., internalization, maintenance of informal intellectual property (IP), and control of technological centrality and sophistication) are often used to respond to FTT policies; however, the risks from such policies can sometimes be more efficiently managed by externally-oriented strategies (e.g., non-market activities and reliance on formal IP). We discuss how the co-evolution of MNCs' risk management strategies alongside changing value chains, IP institutions, and conditions determining the leverage of FTT policies appear to contribute to this phenomenon. We argue that IB research should more prominently recognize the role of externally-oriented strategies, not only internally-oriented ones, in managing the complex IP-related institutional challenges present in emerging markets today.     

How does homeland security affect U.S. firms' international competitiveness?

This paper frames the issue of homeland security and its relationship to the international competitiveness of U.S. firms in general. This is largely a conceptual statement, identifying the areas of national security (homeland security) that are key to business, and exploring the management concerns of business to the new threats and opportunities that have arisen.We establish the point that homeland security is a purposeful, conscious, and rational response to terrorist events that is an emergent and evolving systems phenomenon. This systems approach is an especially useful way to look at the implications of homeland security in its relation to business. We then look specifically at the kinds of costs and risks that are generated for U.S. international business (exports, imports, incoming and outgoing investments) as a result of this phenomenon. Management strategies for dealing with these costs and risks are explored for U.S. firms.Our conclusion is to demonstrate the scope of analysis that is needed to understand and to managerially cope with the homeland security problem. We show the value of using theory from various disciplines for analyzing a multi-dimensional problem like this. And finally we are able to recommend some policy dimensions for both companies and the U.S. Government toward mitigating the negative impacts of the homeland security problem.     

Integrating information systems into business strategies

The role of information systems (IS) in business is changing rapidly. The information revolution, driven by dramatic improvements in cost and performance of the technology is radically altering the business environment of many firms— restructuring whole industries, re-aligning the balance of power and leverage of industry component firms and enabling competitive strategies to be implemented or sustained more effectively. This transformation of role requires strategies for information systems to become an integral part of business strategy formulation. Traditional approaches to the management of IS activities are inappropriate for the determination of business strategies for systems. However, the techniques of corporate strategic analysis and formulation can be used to determine how IS should be managed to gain maximum business benefit.     

展厅现象下的双渠道供应链定价策略

针对双渠道供应链中展厅现象将加剧传统渠道与电子渠道的价格竞争问题，利用消费者效用理论，以存在展厅现象的差异化定价策略为基准，分别设计能够消除展厅现象的一致性定价策略和限价策略。研究结果显示相比差异化定价策略，一致性定价策略可以减轻传统渠道与电子渠道的价格竞争，并总是对零售商有利，但当顾客到传统渠道麻烦成本较高和批发价格较低时，也将有利于制造商；此外，双渠道供应链成员是否选择限价策略，依赖于传统渠道与电子渠道的价差，随着价差的降低制造商与零售商的利润都将提高，特别当两个渠道的价差较小时，限价策略可以有效降低价格竞争，从而促进双渠道供应链成员达到双赢状态。     

Transmission of a supplier’s disruption risk along the supply chain: a further investigation of the Chinese automotive industry

This paper primarily explores whether the transmission of a supplier’s disruption risk along the supply chain exists using a quantitative survey conducted in 31 Chinese automotive-related companies. Two downstream supply chain members are considered: manufacturer and distributor. Structural equation modelling is used. We find that both manufacturer and distributor can be affected by supplier disruptions. In particular, distributors are impacted in two ways: indirectly and directly. On the one hand, indirect transmission of the supplier’s disruption risk to distributors is assumed to be an outcome of interrupted material flows for the production and sales of whole vehicles along the supply chain. Domino effect is used to explain this phenomenon. On the other hand, direct transmission is presumed to originate from the direct business contact between the supplier and distributors in terms of automotive spare parts. Based on primary findings, this paper further investigates strategies used by manufacturers and distributors to mitigate the adverse effects of supplier disruptions through semi-structured interviews. Theoretical and practical implications, as well as limitations, are discussed.     

Linking IT planning to business strategy

Information Strategy Planning is of growing importance. There are available a variety of formal methodologies for carrying out information systems planning, none of which are particularly well aligned to the current business planning views. The author was concerned that the value of the approaches used in business planning, most notably those of Michael Porter, were being ignored by the information systems planning methodologies. Both mechanisms yield insight and both are required to make strategic gains from IT. The paper explains the experience at Simon Engineering in combining Porter's value chain and five forces approach with the more usual Information Engineering methodology for information planning. A workshop approach was adopted and the conclusions drawn that the information strategy must be seen and developed as an integral part of, and at the same time as, the business strategy, and that both Information Engineering and Porter's approaches are necessary component parts of creating an integrated business and IT strategy. IT strategies cannot be developed independently of the business strategy, nor should they follow the business strategy. Successful IT strategies must be developed at the same time as the business strategy.     

A Study of the Role Played by Manufacturing Strategic Objectives and Capabilities in Understanding the Relationship between Porter's Generic Strategies and Business Performance

An appropriate alignment between business strategy, manufacturing strategic objectives and manufacturing capabilities reportedly influences business performance positively. However, few papers empirically analyse this proposition for the case of Porter's generic strategies of cost leadership and differentiation, and none jointly considers all four elements. This paper integrates strategies, capabilities and performance in a single model and proposes that both manufacturing competitive priorities and capabilities, articulated in terms of cost and flexibility, are essential for explaining the link between generic business strategies and business commercial and financial performance. Within this analytic framework, we test whether companies that emphasize one business strategy rather than another achieve a better alignment and superior performance. The analyses conducted with a sample of 148 Spanish manufacturers provide general support for these propositions and contribute to a deeper understanding of the role played by functional strategies in understanding the outcomes of business strategy.     

Enhancing competitive advantage by constructing supply chains to achieve superior performance

This paper studies the impact of configuring supply chain design strategies on performance using real-world example of aligning different supply chain practices to supply chain strategies to achieve competitive advantage. The paper first carries out a synthesis of literature categorising the supply chain strategies, practices and linking them to contexts and competitive advantage. The paper then uses a case study methodology to explore the process of adjusting supply chain strategies and aligned practices to gain competitive advantage in different contexts. The paper reports two case examples of a leaf tobacco company and a mosquito coil manufacturer from India facing different demand characteristics and implementing different supply chain strategies for enhancing performance objectives. Both companies faced a change in their business environment and competitive priorities. In both the examples, companies used a combination of practices for implementing appropriate supply chain strategies to gain competitive advantage. This paper contributes to the academic discipline of supply chain management through developing theory showing the transition of supply chain strategies for achieving superior performance in different business environments. The paper has wide managerial implications by reporting real-life implementation of different supply chain strategies thus bridging the practice-theory gap.     

Strategic planning in a regulated trade bloc: The pharmaceutical industry in the European union

This article reports the results of personal interviews with multinational managers regarding the changing business environment in the European Union (EU). The study investigates pharmaceutical executives' perceptions of significant issues facing their industry in the EU and what types of strategies these managers might consider undertaking to survive in this regional trade bloc. Mahon and Murray's (1981) typology of strategies for regulated industries is used to evaluate the interview data. Overall, the pharmaceutical managers exhibit a reactive response to the changing pharmaceutical marketplace. The article concludes with a discussion of potential strategies for dealing with the regulated framework governing this industry in the EU.     

发达国家企业后勤战略的新趋势

企业后勤战略是企业战略的一个重要组成部分.企业重组和兼并的浪潮、地区一体化和全球化的发展趋势以及竞争的日益加剧,使得企业的经济环境发生了很大变化.发达国家的企业审时度势,纷纷制定和实施新的后勤战略,如及时后勤战略、一体化后勤战略和全球后勤战略,以适应当今的经济环境,保持竞争优势,获取更大的生存与发展空间.这些战略对于即将加入WTO的我国企业来说,具有很大的借鉴作用.     

Das Geschäft mit dem Erfolg

The success businessThis article explores dubious strategies engaged in by individuals and organizations in the lifelong learning, coaching and consultancy field. Business in this fledgling industry is largely conducted outside the bounds of quality standards and neutral accrediting bodies and is considered fertile ground for making a fast buck by profit-hungry companies. They beguile practitioners in the field to invest their assets in purportedly attractive businesses. The author analyzes the business practices used by these fly-by-night organizations and reveals the types of enticing offers inexperienced practitioners may fall a prey to. The author presents ways to determine, whether a company is employing practices of this kind and to safeguard against exploitation by potentially fraudulent business partners.     

The role of absorptive capacity and innovation strategy in the design of industry 4.0 business Models - A comparison between SMEs and large enterprises

Technological innovations often lead to redesigns in the business models of established companies, requiring them to incorporate new external knowledge into internal activities. Against this background, this study integrates the concepts of business model design, absorptive capacity, and innovation strategy into a novel research model, which analyzes the redesign of established business models in response to the emergence of Industry 4.0. Industry 4.0, also known as the Industrial Internet of Things, constitutes a contemporary research context that is highly relevant for corporate practice but scarcely regarded in management literature until now. The article contains an analysis of data from 221 German industrial enterprises, conducted through structural equation modeling, with separate data for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and large enterprises. First, the results indicate that the acquisition, assimilation, transformation, and exploitation of knowledge from the environment enable companies to engage in both exploratory and exploitative innovation strategies. Furthermore, the paper includes an evaluation of the role of exploratory and exploitative innovation strategies that reflects in efficiency-centered and novelty-centered business model designs. The distinct characteristics differentiating SMEs from large enterprises are also explained. The implications of absorptive capacity on innovation strategies, which influence the redesign of extant business models, are discussed from a research and managerial perspective.     

Strategies for business model innovation: How firms reel in migrating value

This paper brings together firm-level research on business models and industry-level research on value migration to examine patterns of business model innovation. We draw on qualitative data from 14 cases and 68 interviews in the computer and telecommunications industries to demonstrate how business model innovation is sensitive to industry-wide forces of value migration. Based on our analysis we conclude that when value is rapidly migrating across industries and between firms, proactively substituting key elements of the primary business model provides a better fit with the new value landscape than launching secondary business models in parallel. We suggest four underlying mechanisms that link business model innovation, value migration and subsequent outcomes. Unpacking business model innovation allows us to discuss contingencies for the main business model strategies, specifically in terms of limitations to—and opportunities of—changing the primary business model and the practice of parallel business models.     

O2O商业模式的创新导向:效率还是价值?——基于O2O创业失败样本的实证研究

商业模式创新是创业企业实现价值创造和竞争优势的重要路径。本文立足于O2O创业失败这一中国典型商业实践,基于服务主导逻辑和互联网经济学的理论基础,从商业模式创新及价值创造视角剖析O2O创业失败归因,并以实证研究方法重点探讨商业模式创新导向与O2O创业失败的关系。首先,引入效率型和价值型商业模式作为O2O商业模式的两类创新导向,在创业环境和行业竞争的调节作用下,构建其与创业失败的理论框架;然后,选取存续时间为2013~2016年的部分O2O创业失败企业作为研究样本,通过清科、Wind、投中等数据库以及IT桔子等互联网渠道获取大量样本信息,借鉴文本挖掘及案例调查法进行数字化评级以准确测度相关构念,并建立层次回归模型对理论假设进行实证检验。研究表明：O2O商业模式的效率性和价值性越高,新创企业就越不容易失败;创业环境越好,采用效率型商业模式的企业就越不容易失败;行业竞争强度越高,采用价值型商业模式的企业就越不容易失败,而采用效率型商业模式的企业却更容易失败。本文在进一步丰富商业模式创新类型及创业失败归因相关研究的同时,对O2O新创企业降低创业失败风险也具有一定启示作用。     

商业生态系统价值结构、企业角色与战略选择

与强调企业在商业生态系统中如何攫取领导地位的战略观不同,本文把研究重心放在了企业战略如何塑造成功商业生态系统上。首先,本文构建了成功商业生态系统的价值结构模型,为企业的战略选择提供了微观与宏观上的方向与路径。其次,本文讨论了与成功商业生态系统相匹配的企业角色,并结合价值结构模型定义了与企业角色相匹配的战略任务。最后,在此基础上,重点阐述了骨干型企业在如何塑造成功商业生态系统过程中具体的宏观战略选择路径与机制问题。     

Response Rates in Business and Management Research: An Overview of Current Practice and Suggestions for Future Direction

This paper examines response rates (RR) in published research in business and management journals. Its aim is to evaluate the efficacy of RR‐enhancing strategies, explore differences in RR between sub‐disciplines and geographical regions, provide a critical appraisal of RR in business and management research, and offer guidelines for assessing and improving RR in business and management research. Data are analysed from 1093 survey‐based papers published between 2009 and 2013 in a representative sample of business and management journals. The results of the study are discussed, and their implications for RR in business and management research are provided.     

动态环境下的企业成长战略探讨

在复杂的动态经营环境中,如何维持持久的竞争优势是每个企业面临的重大难题。本文在文献研究的基础上,将成长战略划分为规模扩张战略、复制成长战略和选择性成长战略,并结合案例对各个战略的特点和优劣性进行了比较和论述,在此基础上,对如何实现三种战略的有效结合进行了深入的探讨。     

Income Shifting in Italian Business Groups and some Governance Implications

This paper explores the relationship among group control, financial reporting strategies and governance implications in the pursuit of domestic tax planning. A very large number of papers deals with international tax planning in multidivisional enterprises, but very few are devoted to exploring significant incentives for national business groups to engage in tax planning strategies. In this paper we propose a one-period model relating to the tax incentives of income shifting in Italian business groups. We show that, given the total amount of expected earnings before taxes and the dividends received by the firms belonging to a business group, an optimal solution to the problem of minimizing the group tax burden exists. The optimal solution involves a gain in value for the group as a whole; nevertheless, since in business groups ownership is often differentiated among shareholders (often because of the separation between ownership and control), income shifting may determine wealth transfers, often in favor of the controlling shareholder. We therefore analyze the management and governance implications of such income shifting, for both shareholders and stakeholders (i.e. managers). This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

SWAPCO Nuclear Corporation (SWAPCO)

SWAPCO is a nuclear fuel brokerage company which has managed to survive in a highly competitive niche market for fourteen years. The market is currently declining and the company must develop a strategy for survival and future growth. The case is designed to enable students to think about the effects of a rapidly changing market on a company's business and the effect of changes in the external environment on the company. It leads to discussion of market strategies, the role of government in business, the effects of competition and other external factors in the survival and growth of a business. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Tackling strategy management

Managing strategies in a one-man business is second nature to the entrepreneur. Strategic coordination becomes much more problematic as the company grows. In today's large multi-nationals, their size constantly threatens strategic lethargy and inertia. Only those companies which can manage their business strategies effectively in all levels of the enterprise are likely to survive and prosper against the competition. This paper seeks to describe how one manufacturing enterprise, as part of a very large marketing oriented multi-national, sets out to tackle this challenge.