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on Economics of Strategic Management |
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Issue of 2007‒01‒23
eleven papers chosen by Joao Jose de Matos Ferreira University of the Biera Interior |
| By: | Federico BONAGLIA (OECD Development Centre, Paris - France); Andrea GOLDSTEIN (OECD Development Centre, Paris - France); John MATHEWS (MacquarieGraduate School of Management, Sydney - Australia) |
| Abstract: | The emergence of a "second wave" of developing-country multinational enterprises (MNEs) in a variety of industries is one of the characterizing features of globalization. These new MNEs did not delay their internationalisation until they were large, as did most of their predecessors, and often become global as a result of direct firm-to-firm contracting. Many grow large as they internationalise conversely, they internationalise in order to grow large. This is a striking pattern which, if confirmed, indicates that enterprises from developing countries have pursued distinctive approaches to internationalisation. It is a further interesting hypothesis to investigate to what extent such firms, born as suppliers of established incumbents, have leveraged on their "latecomer" status to accelerate their internationalisation. This paper documents how emerging MNEs may follow quite different patterns to reach, or at least approach, global competitiveness. In particular, it investigates how three latecomer MNEs pursued global growth through accelerated internationalisation combined with strategic and organizational innovation. Haier (China), Mabe (Mexico) and Arcelik (Turkey) emerged as Dragon Multinationals in the large home appliances (so-called "white goods") industry. This is a producer-driven global value chain, characterized by mature technology and rapid delocalization to developing countries, where not only input costs are lower, but demand growth rates are higher - giving a decided latecomer advantage to these MNEs. Haier, Mabe and Arçelik leveraged their strategic partnership with established MNEs to upgrade their operations, evolving from the production of simple goods, into new product lines developed through their own design, branding and marketing capabilities. The recipe of their success has been the ability to treat global competition as an opportunity to build capabilities, move into more profitable industry segments, and adopt strategies that turn latecomer status into a source of competitive advantage. At the same time, their experiences show that there are many strategies and trajectories for going global. |
| Date: | 2006–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:anc:wpaper:270&r=cse |
| By: | Antonia R. Gurrieri (University of Bari); Luca Petruzzellis (University of Bari) |
| Abstract: | This study is concerned with the factors that influence the cooperation among cluster-based firms. Theorists have consistently demonstrated the role and importance of economic externalities, such as knowledge spillovers, within industrial clusters. Less attention has been paid to the investigation of social based externalities, though it has been suggested that these may also accrue from geographical agglomeration. This study explores the development of cooperation between firms operating in a single industry sector and in close proximity. The results suggest that social networking has a greater influence than geographic proximity in facilitating inter-firm co-operation. A semi-structured questionnaire has been developed and the answers were analysed with a stepwise regression model. |
| Keywords: | Networks, Inter-Firm Cooperation, SMEs |
| Date: | 2006–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2006.134&r=cse |
| By: | Harold Creusen; Bert Minne; Henry van der Wiel |
| Abstract: | Competition in the Dutch market sector as a whole probably slightly declined during 1993- 2001. Within the market sector, a large variety in competition development exists. Competition changes have been rather small in many industries competition, but a considerable number of industries experienced a sharp rise or strong fall in competition. These findings are puzzling in light of regulatory reforms that have been implemented in the period observed. Yet, econometric analysis suggests that regulatory reforms could have intensified competition. However, strong growth of market demand has weakened competition and it counterbalanced to some extent the impact of regulatory reforms. If demand grows more rapidly than supply, then incumbent firms compete less aggressively. This should attract new competitors if entry barriers are low. Although entry has a positive effect on competition, its contribution has been negligible or even slightly negative. The analysis is based on two competition indicators. The model considerably explains the development of both indicators at the industry level. However, several determinants have statistically insignificant coefficients, particularly the estimated coefficients of entry and exit rates. |
| Keywords: | competition; measurement; competition policy |
| JEL: | D4 L1 L5 |
| Date: | 2006–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpb:docmnt:136&r=cse |
| By: | Peter van der Zwan (CASBEC, Erasmus School of Economics, Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam, and EIM, Zoetermeer); Roy Thurik (CASBEC, Erasmus School of Economics, Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam, EIM Zoetermeer, Max Planck Institute of Economics, and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam); Isabel Grilo (DG Enterprise, European Commission, GREMARS, Université de Lille 3, and CORE, Université Cath. de Louvain) |
| Abstract: | We test a new model where the entrepreneurial decision is described as a process of successive engagement levels, i.e., as an entrepreneurial ladder. Five levels are distinguished using nearly 12,000 observations from the 2004 “Flash Eurobarometer survey on Entrepreneurship” covering the 25 European Union member states and the United States. The most surprising of the many results is that perception of lack of financial support is no obstacle for moving to a higher entrepreneurial engagement level whereas perceived administrative complexity is a significant obstacle. We also show that the effect of age on the probability of moving forward in the entrepreneurial process becomes negative after a certain age implying that if entrepreneurial engagements are not taken early enough in life they may well never be taken. |
| Keywords: | entrepreneurship; determinants; nascent entrepreneurship; ordered multinomial logit; Europe |
| JEL: | H10 J23 L26 M13 R12 |
| Date: | 2006–11–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:uvatin:20060103&r=cse |
| By: | Frances Ruane; Julie Sutherland |
| Abstract: | This paper extends existing research on firm heterogeneity by exploring whether differences in firm performance characteristics may in part be related to the gender of the proprietor of the firm. Using a data set of Irish manufacturing firms covering the period 1993 to 2002, we estimate multivariate regression models comparing the performance of female-owned and male-female joint ownership firms with firms owned by males only. When compared with all other firm types, female-owned firms exhibit inferior firm performance characteristics. However, when we control for the ownership structure of the firm and compare female sole-proprietor firms with male sole-proprietor firms, the under-performance difference is reduced. Examining separately firms that are jointly owned by males and females we find that joint ownership firms significantly under-perform those owned by males. |
| Keywords: | Firm performance, gender |
| Date: | 2007–01–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iis:dispap:iiisdp200&r=cse |
| By: | Isabel Grilo; Roy Thurik |
| Abstract: | The process of the entrepreneurial decision is decomposed in seven engagement levels ranging from “never thought about starting a business” to “gave up”, “thinking about it”, “taking steps for starting up”, “having a young business”, “having an older business” and “no longer being an entrepreneur”. By using a multinomial logit model we allow the effect of covariates to differ across the various entrepreneurial engagement levels. Data from two Entrepreneurship Flash Eurobarometer surveys (2002 and 2003) con-taining over 20,000 observations of the 15 old EU member states, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and the US are used. Other than demographic variables, the set of explanatory variables used includes the percep-tion by respondents of administrative complexities, of availability of financial support and of risk tolerance, the respondents’ preference for self-employment and country specific effects. Among our results we find that the perception of lack of financial support has no discriminative effect across the various levels of en-trepreneurial engagement while perception of administrative complexities plays a negative role only for high levels of engagement. |
| Keywords: | entrepreneurship, determinants, nascent entrepreneurship, multinomial logit, barriers to entry, Europe |
| JEL: | H10 J23 L26 M13 R12 |
| Date: | 2007–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:esi:egpdis:2007-02&r=cse |
| By: | Natálie Reichlová (Institute of Economic Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic); Petr Švarc (Institute of Economic Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic) |
| Abstract: | We present a model of job search in which information about job opportunities is available either through direct search at the labor market or through network of socially tied individuals. We consider two cases - altruistic and self-interested agents that maximize their utility function. We show that optimal strategies range between full and no referring cases. Altruistic individuals tend to refer more than selfinterested agents. Strategic referring allows agents alleviate employment variation and leads to higher average utility levels and lower unemployment rates. |
| Keywords: | agent-based modeling; networks; strategy; job referring |
| JEL: | J62 J64 D82 D83 |
| Date: | 2006–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fau:wpaper:wp2006_29&r=cse |
| By: | Acs, Zoltan (George Mason University, School of Public Policy); Audrestch, David (Indiana University, School of Environmental and Public Affairs); Braunerhjelm, Pontus (CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies, Royal Institute of Technology); Carlsson, Bo (Case Western Reserve University, Weatherhead School of Management, Department of Economics) |
| Abstract: | Contemporary theories of entrepreneurship generally focus on the recognition of opportunities and the decision to exploit them. While the prevailing view in the entrepreneurship literature is that opportunities are exogenous, the most prevalent theory of economic growth suggests that opportunities are endogenous. This paper bridges the gap between the entrepreneurship and economic growth literatures by developing a knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship. Knowledge created endogenously results in knowledge spillovers that give rise to opportunities to be identified and exploited by entrepreneurs. |
| Keywords: | Opportunity; knowledge; entrepreneurship; knowledge filter |
| JEL: | J24 M13 O31 R10 |
| Date: | 2007–01–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:cesisp:0077&r=cse |
| By: | ITO Keiko; FUKAO Kyoji |
| Abstract: | Does localization of procurements, sales, and management contribute to the profitability of overseas affiliates? This study examines this question by analyzing the performance of Japanese multinationals' manufacturing affiliates in China using a comprehensive affiliate-level dataset for the period from 1989 to 2002 collected by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI). We find that even though foreign multinationals often seem to enter China for the local market potential, affiliates with a higher local sales ratio tend to be less profitable - a pattern that is conspicuously different from that observed for Japanese affiliates in other regions such as the USA or the ASEAN-4, where local sales orientation has a positive impact on profitability. On the other hand, we find that Japanese affiliates' profitability was positively associated with their local procurement ratio. Using the coefficients of the profit function estimated from data on all Japanese manufacturing affiliates around the world, we can calculate the effect of localization (local sales and local procurements) on profitability by country, controlling for the level of GDP and per-capita GDP. In the case of China, the localization effects are positive following the country's accession to the WTO, suggesting that both local procurement and sales expansion contribute to higher profitability in China. |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:dpaper:06037&r=cse |
| By: | Mario A. Maggioni (DISEIS and Catholic University of Milan); Mario Nosvelli (CERIS-CNR); T. Erika Uberti (DISEIS and Catholic University of Milan) |
| Abstract: | In the last fifteen years, income differences among European Member States have been strongly narrowing while the process has been matched with a widening of the inter-regional variance within single countries. Traditionally, regional economic disparities in Europe have been ascribed to peripherality and/or to a high level of dependence on declining sectors. Nowadays regional disparities can be no longer defined only in terms of statistical differences in the values of standard macroeconomic indicators, but also according to innovative capacities and knowledge endowment. This paper provides an original framework for the interpretation of the existing relationships between innovation process and research activity in Europe and the structural and geographical features shaping the European scientific and technological map. In order to do so, we focus on two knowledge-based relational phenomena: participation in the same research networks (funded by the EU Fifth Framework Programme) and EPO co-patent applications. Using two complementary econometric techniques we try to assess those factors that determine patenting activity, distinguishing structural features, geographical and relational spillovers. Through these variables we measure the intrinsic relational structure of knowledge flows which directly connects people, institutions and, indirectly, regions, across European countries in order to test whether hierarchical relationships based on a-spatial networks between geographically distant excellence centres prevail over diffusive patterns based on spatial contiguity. |
| Keywords: | Spatial Distribution, Networks, European Analysis |
| JEL: | O31 R12 C21 |
| Date: | 2006–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2006.153&r=cse |
| By: | Pietro Caratti (Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei); Gabriella Lo Cascio (Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei) |
| Abstract: | The objective of this paper is to investigate the actual situation in the shift towards the implementation of Sustainable Development Policies in Europe. The aim is to highlight the key role of the European Union in bringing about sustainable development within Europe and also on the wider global stage. It will show how the European Commission performs its commitment in reaching a sustainable regulation by issuing some documents and declarations. The paper frames the EU action into an international framework of strategies, agreements and policies on SD and, at the same time, provides an overview on experiences of SD strategy implementations at the national level, according to the commission pressing on MS to produce their own SD strategy and implement it. Indicators systems, issues of interest and fields of actions are compared: the analysis of these elements aims to highlight common scenarios of SD strategies that reveal the trends towards a more sustainable growth in the European Union. |
| Keywords: | Sustainable Development, Globalization, Environment Policy, Strategy for Sustainable Development, Good Governance, Participation |
| JEL: | Q01 Q5 Q56 |
| Date: | 2006–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2006.152&r=cse |