Practicing what We Preach

• With the increasing globalisation of knowledge and management education, it is important that we build on our scanty understanding of trends and levels of geographic diversification in editorial board membership of management journals.
• Our study examines geographic diversity in editorial boards in Management over a 20-year period. It uses secondary data from 57 journals covering approximately 16,000 editorial board members.
• We found that the geographic diversity of editorial boards (EBs) has increased in the last 20 years, but it is still low for most management journals. Further, two factors partly predict the geographic diversity of EBs of management journals: the editor’s country of residence and the field of research.
• Continued active management by editors, professional associations and individual academics alike is necessary to ensure that our editorial boards properly reflect the diverse management community.

     

International Activities of Emerging Market Firms

• During the last decade emerging market firms (EMFs) have increasingly attracted scholarly attention. Yet, the conclusions concerning the nature and the theoretical foundations of EMFs?? international expansion vary greatly thus calling for a critical assessment of the existing theorizing in this field.
• We examine publications on the internationalization of EMFs in fourteen top international management (IM) journals in the period of 2000?C2010 and use the inductive approach and the qualitative content analysis methodology.
• Our analysis shows that the published research can be classified into two groups: macro- and micro-level studies. The former predominantly employ macro-level institutional factors to examine the overall patterns of EMFs?? international expansion, while the latter build on a wider range of approaches, including the resource-based view, network and strategy perspectives to investigate various aspects of EMFs?? internationalization.
• The paper identifies a number of theoretical inconsistencies in the existing research that arguably cause ambiguity in findings and suggests future research directions to address these inconsistencies. By doing so the analysis contributes to the central debate in literature concerning whether conventional theories suffice to explain the EMFs?? internationalization or new theoretical approaches are needed.
• The analysis illustrates that the research on EMFs?? internationalization can be improved through refined application of a broader range of methodologies such as longitudinal and mixed-method studies. The geographic focus of studies needs to be widened as well. Currently it is clearly biased towards China, while other emerging markets remain under-researched.

     

The optimization test environment

The Optimization Test Environment is an interface to efficiently test different optimization solvers. It is designed as a tool for both developers of solver software and practitioners who just look for the best solver for their specific problem class. It enables users to:

Choose and compare diverse solver routines;

Organize and solve large test problem sets;

Select interactively subsets of test problem sets;

Perform a statistical analysis of the results, automatically produced as , PDF, and JPG output.

The Optimization Test Environment is free to use for research purposes.     

Process perspectives in international business research in CEE

Abstract

Internationalisation processes have been a core interest of international business research since the seminal contribution by Johanson and Vahlne (1977).

The unique context of economic transition in CEE directs the attention to dynamic aspects of these processes, and to the interaction with changing environmental conditions.

This introductory paper reviews the contributions of recent CEE research, and this special issue in particular, to advance our understanding of internationalisation processes.

     

Flow and deformation of fresh concrete

The results of studies made from the standpoint of rheology on methods of predicting flows and deformations of fresh concrete and mortar as basic research for rationalization of concrete construction are described. This paper contains as follows:

1. method of measuring viscosity of fresh concrete and mortar;
2. method of estimating deformation of fresh concrete due to its own weight;
3. proposal of the “Inclined Pipe Test Method” as a new method of testing consistency of grout mortar.

     

Japanese national project on intermetallics and composites

Since 1989 a group of national laboratories, universities and member companies have been challenging a series of tough research areas concerning advanced materials used by, for example, space planes, and hypersonic aircraft to withstand the severest of environments. As an eight-year national project, intermetallic compounds, Ti?Al and Nb?Al, petroleum pitch-based and coal tar pitch-based carbon/carbon composites, and fiber-reinforced intermetallic compound composites have been taken up. Extensive research activities have been covered as follows:

• fundamental characteristics,
• design of the material,
• casting, rolling, powdering, forming and near net shaping,
• surface treatment for oxidation resistance.

The authors briefly review major R&D activities and achievements obtained so far, focusing on these intermetallics, carbon/carbon composites, and fiber-reinforced intermetallic compounds.     

The Impact of Psychic Distance on Chinese Outward Foreign Direct Investments

• The aim of this paper is to investigate the value of the well-known construct of psychic distance, developed to explain the internationalization path of firms from developed countries, for the internationalization of Chinese firms.
• Our research question is: Does psychic distance and its individual stimuli (differences in language, religion, culture, economic development, political systems, education, and geographic distance) explain Chinese investments abroad?
• We test hypotheses on the relation between psychic distance and its stimuli and Chinese outward direct investments with OLS regression analyses.
• We find that Chinese OFDI indeed is influenced by an aggregate construct of psychic distance and by certain psychic distance stimuli, but not by all; in particular, similarities or differences with regard to language and culture, the level of industrialization and the level of democracy relate to Chinese firms’ internationalization.
• Our findings suggest that psychic distance and its stimuli cannot be ignored as explanatory factors for Chinese outward FDI but that the explanatory value of these constructs depends on the context of the phenomenon under study.
• We conclude that it is important to understand how the home country context influences managerial perceptions and thereby patterns of international expansion from different regions.

     

Robust identification of pneumatic servo actuators in the real situations

Intensive research in the field of mathematical modelling of the pneumatic cylinder has shown that its mathematical model is nonlinear and that a lot of important details cannot be included in the model. Selection of the model and the identification method have been conditioned by the following facts:

1. The nonlinear model of the system can be approximated by a linear model with time-variant parameters.
2. There is the influence of the combination of heat coefficient, unknown discharge coefficient and change of temperature on the pneumatic cylinder model. Therefore it is assumed that the parameters of the pneumatic cylinder are random (stochastic parameters).
3. In practical conditions, observations have a non-Gaussian distribution.

Due to the abovementioned reasons, it is assumed that the pneumatic cylinder model is a linear stochastic model with variable parameters. The Masreliez-Martin filter (robust Kalman filter) was used for identification of parameters of the model. For the purpose of increasing the practical value of the filter, the following two heuristic modifications were performed:

1. It was adopted that T(k)=1 holds for the scalar transformation of residuals.
2. Fisher information was approximated by a derivative of the Huber??s function.

The proposed modifications were confirmed through intensive simulations. In order to provide persistent excitation, the autocovariance function ??1/f?? of the signal was used. The behaviour of the new approach to identification of the pneumatic cylinder is illustrated by simulations.     

Mao Meets the Market

• This study sought to examine the relative impact of several competing sources of values and ideologies—Chinese Traditional Values, Capitalist Values, Socialist Ideology and Deng Xiaoping’s Philosophy—on Chinese businesspersons. In contrast to previous research that has focused almost exclusively on cultural influences, this research was aimed at also understanding political influences.
• Questionnaire data from 487 respondents drawn from two cities and three industrial sectors was analyzed by means of structural equation modeling.
• Positive and significant relationships were revealed between Socialist Ideology and both Chinese Traditional Values and Deng’s Philosophy. While a negative and significant relationship was shown between Socialist Ideology and Capitalist Values, Capitalist Values were positively and significantly related to Deng’s Philosophy.
• Chinese businesspersons live with some apparent contradictions between espoused values and the realities of economic life. The paper explores how they are reconciled and examines their implications for various stakeholders.

     

Subsidiary Interdependencies and International Human Resource Management Practices in German MNCs

• Using the resource-based view, this paper links the degree of interdependence that exists between subsidiaries of multinational corporations (MNCs) to the use of various International Human Resource Management (IHRM) practices.
• We assume that in many MNCs this interdependence has increased the need for cross-border coordination.
• We analyze to what extent MNCs use IHRM practices in order to enhance their coordination capability across national borders.
• We present a framework that addresses these effects and empirically test it using data from a questionnaire survey among 142 majority-owned overseas subsidiaries of German MNCs.
• The findings show that the degree of interdependence is related to the level of international experience of staff employed in subsidiaries, the use of third-country nationals, the provision of training, the use of cross-cultural management teams, and the choice of employee evaluation and reward methods.
• We conclude by discussing the implications of our findings for IHRM practitioners and scholars as well as the limitations of our study.

     

Effective Persuasion of International Business Sales Letters

• Language usage has attracted increasing research attention in international business studies. Yet scarce research has been done on the use of language in sales letters across cultures.
• Our paper, using a combined etic-emic approach aims to compare Chinese and New Zealand managers’ reflective accounts of persuasive strategies and the function of sales letters used in these two countries. In particular, we seek to contribute to an improved in-depth cross-cultural understanding through an investigation using emic sources of language and persuasion.
• Our findings indicate that language and persuasion play a significant role in sales letters, the Chinese managers focusing more on building qing (positive affect) with the reader whereas the NZ managers sought a more immediate reaction to their sales pitch and informal engagement with the reader.
• Furthermore, also based on the insights gained reflectively and reflexively from our discussion, these differences were closely related to persuasion strategies which are also important parameters influencing cross-cultural adaptations.

     

What Do HR Managers Really Do?

• The contribution of the HR function in supporting international business operations has received limited attention to date, with even less attention paid to HR roles.
• This article seeks to address this by studying the role of HR managers on international projects.
• We identify five IHR roles: service provider, policy police, strategic partner, change agent; and welfare officer.
• We also identifyhow these roles are enacted, questioning the prevailing divide between strategic and operational roles; and adding another dimension??emotional.
• We also argue that role enactment is context-specific; and show how context constrains as well as enables IHR role enactment.

     

Family Management and Internationalization: The Impact on Firm Performance and Innovation

• Researchers in international business have long been interested in understanding the impact of internationalization on firm performance and innovation. However, because international diversification offers both advantages and agency problems, prior studies of this research stream offer mixed results.
• Based on a sample of Taiwan’s publicly listed firms during the period of 2000–2009, this study contributes to this research stream by examining the impact of family management on firm performance and innovation implications of internationalization.
• This study finds that family management positively moderates the relation between internationalization and performance/innovation. These findings suggest that family management helps mitigate the agency problems associated with internationalization so that family firms experience positive benefits from internationalization in terms of innovation and performance.

     

Progressive Focusing and Trustworthiness in Qualitative Research

• The business and management community increasingly recognises that qualitative research is a ??messy??, non-linear and often unpredictable undertaking. Yet, a considerable proportion of the qualitative research published in top journals is still presented as the result of a linear, predictable research process, thus wrongly suggesting deductive reasoning.
• In this paper, we focus on a particular type of ??messiness?? where during fieldwork, the research context is revealed to be more complex than anticipated, forcing the researcher to gradually refine/shift their focus to reflect ??what really matters??. We adopt Stake??s notion of progressive focusing for this gradual approach.
• Progressive focusing is well-suited to qualitative research in international business requiring complex iteration between theory and data, and the truthful yet coherent presentation of the research process. We propose that this dual challenge of complexity and trustworthiness may be addressed by using computer-assisted qualitative data analysis software (CAQDAS).
• We present conceptual considerations and guidelines and offer a view on a ??messy??, non-linear doctoral research project conducted using a progressive focusing approach, to demonstrate how CAQDAS can help to develop and re-negotiate insights from theory and interview data, as well as enhance trustworthiness, transparency and publication potential.

     

Market Orientation, Embeddedness and the Autonomy and Performance of Multinational Subsidiaries in an Emerging Economy

• This paper develops a conceptual framework for market orientation, embeddedness, autonomy and performance of multinational subsidiaries in an emerging economy.
• We argue that internal and external embeddedness has different performance implications for export- and local market-oriented multinational subsidiaries.
• Our results, based on a sample of 233 multinational subsidiaries from China, indicate that while external embeddedness has a positive impact on specialized resources of both types of subsidiary, such resources only positively affect the performance of local market-oriented subsidiaries. By contrast, internal embeddedness has a negative impact on specialized resources of both types of subsidiary.
• Managerial and policy implications are discussed.

     

In at the Deep End of Firm Internationalization

• The purpose of this research is to examine the consequences of top management team (TMT) internationalization: why and under what conditions can TMT nationality diversity be beneficial?
• On the basis of the upper echelons theory from the strategic leadership literature, the relationship between the TMT nationality diversity and firm performance in the strategic context of firm internationalization is investigated in moderated multiple regressions models (MMR) for a sample of Dutch, Swiss, and UK companies.
• The study findings suggest that the TMT nationality diversity becomes advantageous only in firms with high degree of internationalization. Companies have to be strongly committed to foreign markets so that the benefits of the TMT nationality diversity can materialize.
• The arising managerial implication is that the TMT nationality diversity can be a powerful tool in building a firm’s competitive advantage, provided that companies are strongly exposed to the international environment. The study also provides corroborative evidence that the search for moderating and mediating variables in the TMT demography research represents a step in the right direction.

     

Some questions on the corrosion of steel in concrete—Part I: when,how and how much steel corrodes

It is widely accepted that concrete-embedded steel is in a passive state. However, there are some exceptional circumstances that induce corosion in an active state within concrete structures, thereby severely reducing their durability. This two-part paper analyses some major questions which, however elementary they may be, are still controversial in scientific, technical and economic terms. The first part provides answers to the following questions on the steel/concrete/environment system:

1. How does steel in concrete normally behave?
2. What are the initiating factors for depassivation?
3. What are the effects of corrosion?
4. What is the morphology of corrosion in the active state? and
5. What is the corrosion rate threshold above which the durability of reinforced concrete structures is impaired? The answers to these questions are provided in light of experimental results, most of which were obtained by the authors themselves.

     

Reconstructing the Indigenous in African Management Research

• The primary aim of this article is to help lay the foundations for mainstreaming indigenous research within international and cross-cultural management studies, taking sub-Saharan Africa as the primary and initial focus, and using the informal economy as an example.
• It sets out to critically examine the concept of indigenous, looking at how concepts and scholarship have been shaped by global dynamics, and the implications for developing empirical management research. It then discusses a research agenda and methods for undertaking indigenous management research, going on to discuss the importance of this to the further development of international and cross-cultural management within a global and changing context.
• Its contribution to scholarship is a more systematic re-examining of the concepts of indigenousness and indigenous knowledge drawing on a range of disciplines and what these concepts mean to undertaking management research that more thoroughly reflect global realities, while evaluating indigenous research methods that could be used effectively and appropriately in this endeavour.

     

National Culture and International Differences in the Cost of Equity Capital

• Prior literature suggests that national culture influences many facets of business operations including corporate governance, capital structure, managerial compensation, foreign direct investment behavior and accounting systems.
• Extending this line of literature, we examine whether key aspects of national culture are also related to international differences in the cost of equity capital.
• In a cross-country sample of 32 countries during 1992–2006, we find that the cost of equity capital tends to be higher in more individualistic and less uncertainty avoiding societies consistent with their greater risk-taking orientation.
• This finding contributes to the international business and financial literature by identifying national culture as an important institutional variable influencing firms’ cost of equity capital around the world.