Matching Modes of Export Strategy Development to Different Environmental Conditions

Despite its increasing importance on current literature, prior research on export strategy development is limited to the examination of the effectiveness of only two strategy‐making modes (formal planning and the entrepreneurial mode) in a non‐comparative manner. In contrast, this study evaluates and compares the effects of four different strategy‐making approaches on export performance and examines which of the four approaches performs better under different environmental conditions. Specifically, the study examines three characteristics of the environment: dynamism, hostility and diversity. Empirical research on a sample of British exporters confirmed that the choice of the strategy development mode is an important element in the determination of export performance and that environmental conditions moderate this relationship. Of the export strategy‐making modes examined, the entrepreneurial and adaptive modes appear to be the most successful.     

Book Review: Globalization and Democratization—A Combustible Mix? World on Fire: How Exporting Free Market Democracy Breeds Ethnic Hatred and Global Instability. Amy Chua. New York: Doubleday Books, 2002: 256 pp., ISBN 0385503024, $ 26.00 (paperback)

Population and Environment -     

On the nature of isolated and post-isolated dialects: Innovation, variation and differentiation

The investigation of two historically isolated communities in the United States, Smith Island, Maryland, and the Lumbee Native American community in Robeson County, North Carolina, demonstrates that, contrary to assumption, isolated communities may be linguistically innovative and heterogeneous. Explanations are both cognitive and social. Speakers in isolated communities are not subject to the leveling pressure that comes with exposure to heterogeneous usage norms and so are free to retain intra-dialectal variation and carry through internal innovations. In addition, the close-knit networks that characterize isolated communities allow for the transmission of intricate patterns of intra-community variation, while the inward focus of such communities heightens the social semiotic importance of this variation. The present study also shows that as communities emerge from historic isolation, they do not necessarily succumb to leveling pressure. Instead, speakers' desire to retain cultural distinctiveness may enable them to retain and even enhance their linguistic distinctiveness.     

The Importance of Biological Realism in Dioxin Risk Assessment Models Michael

Mechanistic mathematical models of hepatocarcinogenesis in the female rat were constructed to investigate possible relationships among the Ah, estrogen, and EGF receptors in TCDD hepato-carcinogenicity. Each model generates dose-response curves for the expression of biomarker liver proteins CYP1A1, CYP1A2, and residual plasma membrane EGF receptor consequent to exposure to TCDD. The shapes of the response curves were strongly dependent on the assumed mechanisms of constitutive expression of these proteins. Assuming a constant level of the hepatic Ah receptor, a sigmoidal dose-response of hepatic CYP1A1 to total liver TCDD was computed. However, inclusion of induction of the Ah receptor by TCDD in a physiologically realistic dosimetric model produced a linear low-dose response of CYP1A1. This behavior was computed to arise from the net effect of sublinear response of CYP1A1 mRNA to the concentration of the Ah-TCDD complex and supralinear response of the protein concentration to the mRNA level, illustrating the importance of biological realism in dose-response modeling. The dosimetric model also computed effects of TCDD on the hepatic estradiol concentration and consequent effects on the binding capacity of the EGF receptor and suggests plausible mechanisms for tumor promotion by TCDD. Setting circulating estradiol levels in the model to values typical of the male rat indicated possible sources of the differences in the responses of the EGF receptor and in development of tumors in the two sexes.     

Family Factors, Theft, Vandalism, and Major Deviance Among a Multiracial/Multiethnic Sample of Adolescent Girls

This article reports on a study of 503 African-American, Hispanic, and White non-Hispanic adolescent girls attending public schools in Miami, Florida, The primary objectives of the study were to determine the prevalence of 13 self-reported delinquent behaviors in the sample, to compare these rates among the three groups of students, and to explore the predictive influences of several family factors that correlate with delinquency. It was found that 37.5% of the sample engaged in one or more acts of serious delinquency, with African-Americans reporting they had engaged in significantly more of these behaviors. The best predictors of theft/vandalism were low family pride and family substance abuse for Hispanics, low family communication for African-Americans, and low family pride for White non-Hispanics. The findings indicate that traditional family factors that have been used repeatedly to understand delinquency by male adolescents were not strong predictors of delinquency among the adolescent girls in the sample.