International Business : oso

The Constitutionalization of the Global Corporate Sphere?

Grahame F. Thompson — 2013-01-24

Author:: Grahame F. Thompson
ISBN:: 9780199594832
Publisher:: Oxford University Press
Subjects:: Business and Management, International Business, Political Economy
DOI:: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199594832.001.0001
Published in print:: 2012
Published Online:: 2013-01-24

Modern constitutions are relatively recent instruments of rule and are closely associated with the formation of national states from the eighteenth century onwards. So what is this term doing in respect to global business practices and corporate affairs? This question is the one the book sets out to explore. The argument is that with the advent of globalization — where corporate organizations and the commercial relations that accompany them are argued to have become increasingly transnational — the locus of powers, authorities, and responsibilities has shifted to the global level. The nation-state arena is losing its capacity to regulate and control commercial processes and practices as a transformational logic kicks-in, associated with new forms of global rule making and governance. And it is this new arena of global rule making can be considered as a surrogate form of global constitutionalization, or ‘quasi-constitutionalization’. But as might be expected, this surrogate process of constitutionalization is not a coherent program or a set of rounded outcomes but is full of contradictory half-finished currents and projects: an ‘assemblage’ of many disparate advances and often directionless moves — almost an accidental coming together of elements. Thus, the book is about governance, law, and constitutional matters. these are discussed in the context of international corporate constitutional governance. So, the emphasis is upon how and why the business world, commercial relations, and particularly company activities have increasingly become subject to legal and constitutional forms of regulation and governance at the international level. The questions asked is how to characterize the process that has seen the international corporate sphere increasingly subject to juridical and constitutional-like regulatory initiatives and interventions. Does this amount to a new attempt to subject international commercial relations to the ‘rule by law’ and, indeed, to rule the world through these very means?

World Insurance

Peter Borscheid and Niels Viggo Haueter — 2012-09-20

Author:: PeterBorscheidProfessor Emeritus of Economic and Social History at the Philipps-University of MarburgNiels ViggoHaueterCorporate History, Swiss Re
ISBN:: 9780199657964
Publisher:: Oxford University Press
Subjects:: Business and Management, International Business, Business History
DOI:: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199657964.001.0001
Published in print:: 2012
Published Online:: 2012-09-20

Since the end of the eighteenth century, the insurance industry has cast a safety net around the world, first in the British Isles and then further afield, irrespective of cultural, political, and ideological divides. This book focuses on the creation of networks across borders from the end of the eighteenth century to the present day. The chapters draw upon examples from twenty countries across the continents to demonstrate how what was called the ‘British system’ of risk management spread out in waves, and describes the forces that made this possible — first among them migration from Europe and international trade. The book explores the economic, political, religious, and cultural obstacles that blocked the path of this European invention — not only religious law and traditional practices, but above all protectionism, inflation, and political ideologies. It examines the process of transformation through which modern insurance supplanted traditional forms of protection against perils and risks and was able to keep on offering new ways of dealing with the risks of modern life. As well as discussing primary insurance, it also considers the role played by reinsurance, without which the losses arising out of today's natural and man-made disasters would be immeasurably greater. Finally, taking modern-day disaster scenarios as examples, the book shows just what the limits of insurability are and what risks worldwide networks entail.

Innovative Firms in Emerging Market Countries

Edmund Amann and John Cantwell — 2012-09-20

Author:: EdmundAmannReader in Development Economics, University of ManchesterJohnCantwellProfessor of International Business, Rutgers University
ISBN:: 9780199646005
Publisher:: Oxford University Press
Subjects:: Business and Management, International Business, Innovation
DOI:: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199646005.001.0001
Published in print:: 2012
Published Online:: 2012-09-20

The rise of innovative firms in emerging market economies is an increasingly topical issue. However, the literature has lagged behind in helping us understand this phenomenon. Aiming to shed more light on the processes through which innovative firms in emerging markets have developed, this book analyzes a variety of firm‐level experiences. These are drawn from a range of key countries, sectors, and institutional contexts. The book finds that the rise of innovative firms in emerging market countries has been influenced by shifts in the institutional, technological, and policy environment — in particular, by the opening up of emerging market economies over the past three decades, and the consequent increase in international business interactions. Across the different countries surveyed, we find that firm-level innovation has been strongly influenced by capabilities that had previously been built up in a relatively closed environment. However, in the current more open environment, we find that innovation among firms also reflects differences in these national historical contexts, as well as in the different forms of interaction with international business that have subsequently emerged. Across all countries, however, it is found that the type of firm that will prove a successful innovator varies according to its goodness of fit with its surrounding environment. Two key facets of this environment are found to be the nature of the industrial and technology policy regime and the scope of international business connections.

East Asian Capitalism

Andrew Walter and Xiaoke Zhang — 2012-09-20

Author:: AndrewWalterReader in International Political Economy, London School of Economics and Political ScienceXiaokeZhangProfessor, Manchester Business School, University of Manchester
ISBN:: 9780199643097
Publisher:: Oxford University Press
Subjects:: Business and Management, Political Economy, International Business
DOI:: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199643097.001.0001
Published in print:: 2012
Published Online:: 2012-09-20

This book brings together conceptual and empirical analyses of the evolving patterns of East Asian capitalism against the backdrop of global market integration and periodic economic crises since the 1980s. More specifically, it seeks to provide an interdisciplinary account of variations, continuities, or changes in institutional structures that govern financial systems, industrial relations, and product markets and shape the evolution of national political economies. The geographical focus of the volume is China, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Thailand. In line with this analytical focus, the volume has three different yet interrelated objectives. First, building on extant comparative institutional analyses, it develops a typology of East Asian capitalism that can identify key institutional domains to be included in cross-national comparisons and establish the guiding principles for categorizing political economies across the region. Second, it provides an analytical framework to elucidate the nature and mode of institutional changes in East Asian countries over the past two decades. Finally, the volume advances theoretical propositions concerning the potential causes of these institutional changes. While particular chapters emphasize different causal variables, collectively they constitute a coherent effort to theorize the changing varieties of East Asian capitalism.

Work and Pay in the United States and Japan

Clair Brown, Michael Reich, Lloyd Ulman, and Yoshifumi Nakata — 2011-10-03

Author:: Clair Brown, Michael Reich, Lloyd Ulman, Yoshifumi Nakata
ISBN:: 9780195115215
Publisher:: Oxford University Press
Subjects:: Business and Management, International Business
DOI:: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195115215.001.0001
Published in print:: 1998
Published Online:: 2011-10-03

This book provides an integrated and detailed analysis of the components of firm human resources systems in the U.S. and Japan. It examines the relationship between company practices and national economic institutions. The authors address a number of key questions about employer–employee relations. How have major Japanese manufacturing companies been able to convert the assurance of “lifetime” employment security into a source of superior employee efficiency and adaptability, when job and income security have been feared as a source of “shirking” and wage inflation in the U.S.? How have higher economic and real wage growth rates been associated with greater equality in earned income distribution in Japan, when the incentive role of income inequality to worker effort and savings has been stressed in the U.S.? How could the Japanese emphasis on employment security in the firm be reconciled with greater price stability and lower unemployment than in the U.S.? This work analyses elements such as employee training and involvement programs, wage behavior as an incentive system and an alternate channel of savings, and synchronous wage determination (shunto) at work in the Japanese economy, which provide for such successes. It also explores the costs that have been associated with these Japanese accomplishments, as well as who must bear them. Finally, it examines the outlook for these distinctive Japanese institutions and practices in a period of slower growth and economic “maturity.” Based on a research project carried out in both countries, it concludes with the lessons that each country can learn much from the employment practices of the other.

Transforming Management in Central and Eastern Europe

Roderick Martin — 2011-10-03

Author:: Roderick Martin
ISBN:: 9780198775690
Publisher:: Oxford University Press
Subjects:: Business and Management, International Business, Political Economy
DOI:: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198775690.001.0001
Published in print:: 1999
Published Online:: 2011-10-03

This book analyses changes in enterprises in seven European countries since 1989 — Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Russia, and Slovakia. Economic trends have differed vastly between these countries, but nevertheless, there are common objectives, common problems, and significant similarities in developments. This book shows the continuities, as well as the discontinuities, between the Socialist and post-Socialist periods. It argues that Central and Eastern European countries are developing a distinctive, hybrid form of post-Socialist economic system, largely dominated by enterprise managers in alliance with state administration DS politicized managerial capitalism. Privatization has not transformed management practices, but competition has.

The Transformation of Labour Relations

John Thirkell, Krastyu Petkov, and Sarah Vickerstaff — 2011-10-03

Author:: John Thirkell, Krastyu Petkov, Sarah Vickerstaff
ISBN:: 9780198289791
Publisher:: Oxford University Press
Subjects:: Business and Management, HRM / IR, International Business
DOI:: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198289791.001.0001
Published in print:: 1998
Published Online:: 2011-10-03

The substantial political changes in Eastern Europe and Russia since 1989 have been accompanied by the attempted transfer, imposition, and imitation of labour relations practices and mechanisms from other market economies, primarily of Western Europe. This book addresses the extent to which these transferred labour relations institutions are likely to take root. The book offers a comparative analysis of changing labour relations at the national level in a range of countries, and the role of governments, international institutions, trade unions, and other agencies. This is supported by in-depth case studies on the processes of transformation at enterprise level. Drawing on the findings of an international research team, analysis of the change process and recent developments is related to the legacies of the socialist system.

Social Economy of the Metropolis

Allen J. Scott — 2011-10-03

Author:: Allen J. Scott
ISBN:: 9780199549306
Publisher:: Oxford University Press
Subjects:: Business and Management, International Business, Political Economy
DOI:: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199549306.001.0001
Published in print:: 2008
Published Online:: 2011-10-03

This book is about the renaissance of cities in the 21st century and their increasing role as centers of creative economic activity. It attempts to put some conceptual and descriptive order around issues of urbanization in the contemporary world, emphasizing the idea of the social economy of the metropolis, which is to say, a view of the urban organism as an intertwined system of social and economic life played out through the arena of urban space. The book opens with a review of some essentials of urban theory. It aims to re-articulate the urban question in a way that is relevant to city life and politics in the present era. It then analyses the functional characteristics of the urban economy, with special reference to the rise of a group of core sectors such as media, fashion, music, etc. focused on cognitive and cultural forms of work. These sectors are growing with great rapidity in the world’s largest cities at the present time, and they play a major role in the urban resurgence that has been occurring of late. The discussion then explores the spatial ramifications of this new economy in cities and the ways in which it appears to be ushering in major shifts in divisions of labor and urban social stratification, as marked by a growing divide between a stratum of elite workers on the one side and a low-wage proletariat on the other.

Regions and the World Economy

Allen J. Scott — 2011-10-03

Author:: Allen J. Scott
ISBN:: 9780198296584
Publisher:: Oxford University Press
Subjects:: Business and Management, International Business, Political Economy
DOI:: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198296584.001.0001
Published in print:: 1999
Published Online:: 2011-10-03

As we enter the twenty-first century, one of the dramatic shifts in the world system is the increasing openness and interpenetration of national economies and sovereign states. This shift is associated on the one hand with the beginnings of a progressive transfer of certain economic and political functions upward to the pluri-national and global levels; and on the other hand with a countervailing trend to the reinforcement of economic and political life at the sub national, regional level. This book is a wide-ranging exploration of the economic logic and political meaning of these developments, with special reference to a reconceptualisation of the economic geography of the modern world as an emerging global mosaic of regional systems of production and exchange. The steady globalisation of economic activity over the last few decades has intensified the re-assertion of the region as a critical locus of economic order and as a potent foundation of competitive advantage. As a corollary, many regions in the modern world are also beginning to acquire an intense self-consciousness of themselves as socio-political and economic entities, and all the more so as they increasingly find themselves bound together in both competitive and collaborative relationships across national borders. The significance of these tendencies for new kinds of political mobilisation is explored, and their potential impacts of substantive forms of democracy and citizenship in the new world order are assessed.

Re-Forming Capitalism

Wolfgang Streeck — 2011-10-03

Author:: Wolfgang Streeck
ISBN:: 9780199573981
Publisher:: Oxford University Press
Subjects:: Business and Management, Political Economy, International Business
DOI:: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199573981.001.0001
Published in print:: 2010
Published Online:: 2011-10-03

This book addresses some of the key issues in the field of comparative political economy and institutional theory: the role of history in institutional analysis, the dynamics of slow institutional change, the limitations of rational design and economic-functionalist explanations of institutional stability, and the recurrent difficulties of restraining the effects of capitalism on social order. In the classification of the ‘Varieties of Capitalism’ school, Germany has always been taken as the chief exemplar of a ‘European’, coordinated market economy. The book explores to what extent Germany actually conforms to this description. Its argument is supported by original empirical research on wage-setting and wage structure, the organization of business and labor in business associations and trade unions, social policy, public finance, and corporate governance. From this evidence, this book traces the current liberalization of the post-war economy of democratic capitalism by means of a historical approach to institutional change.

Planning for Change

James E. Vestal — 2011-10-03

Author:: James E. Vestal
ISBN:: 9780198290278
Publisher:: Oxford University Press
Subjects:: Business and Management, International Business, Political Economy
DOI:: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198290278.001.0001
Published in print:: 1995
Published Online:: 2011-10-03

What has been the role of government industrial policy in Japan's extraordinary post-war development? How has the role changed in successive phases of growth? What ‘lessons’ can be learnt from this experience by other nations, be they in the West, or developing countries or economies in transition attempting to introduce competitive market structures? These are some of the main questions addressed in this study. Dividing the period into three main phases, the book shows that policy played a crucial role in the initial period of post-war recovery. It did so not by ‘picking winners’ but by creating a stable base from which development could occur by spreading the cost of introducing market competition over time. In the succeeding high growth period, and more recently, Japan's industrial policy attempts only to promote the development of new technology, and smooth the decline of sectors that are no longer globally competitive. That Japan itself no longer practices industrial policy on a wide scale is an irony little appreciated by those advocating the adoption of a ‘Japan-style’ industrial policy elsewhere.

Multinationals as Flagship Firms

Alan M. Rugman and Joseph R. D'Cruz — 2011-10-03

Author:: Alan M. Rugman, Joseph R. D'Cruz
ISBN:: 9780199258185
Publisher:: Oxford University Press
Subjects:: Business and Management, Strategy, International Business
DOI:: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199258185.001.0001
Published in print:: 2003
Published Online:: 2011-10-03

The international dimension of business networks has remained relatively unexplored, mainly because international business writers focus upon multinational enterprises and network writers ignore international issues. This book bridges the literature on networks and multinationals by introducing the new concept of the flagship firm. In each business network strategic leadership is provided by the flagship firm, which is defined as a multinational enterprise. It has other partners: key suppliers; key customers; key competitors; and key partners in the non-business infrastructure. These business networks are usually located in the ‘triad’ regions of the European Union, North America, and Japan. There are strong cross-border network linkages within these regions, but less globalisation than regional economic integration. The theory of the flagship firm/five-partners model is applied to the telecommunications, chemicals, automotive, and electronics sectors, amongst others, and the book reports on both empirical studies and field research of the international competitiveness of these sectors.

The Multilateral Investment System and Multinational Enterprises

Thomas L. Brewer and Stephen Young — 2011-10-03

Author:: Thomas L. Brewer, Stephen Young
ISBN:: 9780198293156
Publisher:: Oxford University Press
Subjects:: Business and Management, International Business, Political Economy
DOI:: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198293156.001.0001
Published in print:: 1998
Published Online:: 2011-10-03

The multinational enterprise has been one of the foremost economic, political, and social influences in the world economy for many decades. As its role and influence have grown, so has the regime of institutions and rules concerning international investment from the proposal to create the ITO in the 1940s to the establishment of the WTO in the 1990s. Investment issues are now important items on the agenda of international economic policy-making and international business-government relations. This book provides a detailed analysis of the evolution of the international investment framework in the second half of the 20th century — the issues, the organisations, and current policy challenges. For instance, the book includes chapters on issues concerning the relationship of investment policy to trade and technology, competition, and economic development. In addition to a clear and well-informed description of the role of several organizations, including ITO, GATT, the OECD, and the WTO, the book presents numerous examples, cases, and appendices to give context and ‘real’ world examples. It also discusses many key regional arrangements, such as NAFTA and the EU, as well as bilateral investment agreements.

Miracle to Meltdown in Asia

Norman Flynn — 2011-10-03

Author:: Norman Flynn
ISBN:: 9780198295525
Publisher:: Oxford University Press
Subjects:: Business and Management, International Business, Political Economy
DOI:: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198295525.001.0001
Published in print:: 1999
Published Online:: 2011-10-03

The crisis in Asia has caused economic hardship and brought an end to the ‘economic miracle’ of fast economic growth in the region. This book asks whether the 1997/8 crisis marks a break with the past and signals an end to ‘Asian’ ways of running economies. During the period of rapid growth there were strong connections between governments and business in the region. ‘Cronyism’, or close connections between family, business, and government, was exposed when the stock markets and currencies dived. Pressure from overseas investors and international organisations has produced reforms in the region. The book examines the social, economic, and political modes of governance in the region. It finds that there is a shifting balance between rule by the market, rule by connections, and rule by force. In the sphere of economic management, it shows that the period of the ‘developmental state’ in Japan and Korea has come to an end, but that it has not yet been replaced by a liberal market. Elsewhere the close connections between governments and business have been weakened but not yet broken. There are still special ‘Asian’ characteristics in economic management and in politics. The forces of ‘globalisation’ are strong, but they are confronted with political and economic cultures that are not rooted in liberal market ethics.

Managing Global Customers

George S. Yip and Audrey J.M. Bink — 2011-10-03

Author:: George S. Yip, Audrey J.M. Bink
ISBN:: 9780199229833
Publisher:: Oxford University Press
Subjects:: Business and Management, Strategy, International Business
DOI:: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199229833.001.0001
Published in print:: 2007
Published Online:: 2011-10-03

Multinational companies need to manage their relationships with multinational customers with a globally integrated approach. This book provides a systematic framework for developing and implementing such global customer management programmes. It draws on in-depth research at over twenty major US and European multinational companies, such as ABB, Bechtel, BP, Bosch, British Airways, Carrefour, Daimler–Chrysler, Hewlett–Packard, HSBC, IBM, Schlumberger, Shell, Siemens, Tesco, Unilever, Vodafone, Wal–Mart, and Xerox. The book teachers how to think about managing global customers in the context of their overall global strategy, develop effective global customer management programmes, overcome barriers to implementation and success, build better relationships with important customers, and get the entire company to engage with managing global customers. This book takes a strategic, total business, and not just sales, approach to managing global customers. It also takes a customer as well as a supplier perspective. The book provides guidance on both strategy and implementation. It takes a systematic and logic driven approach, yet provides many creative insights and practical advice. The book highlights the rewards of taking a step beyond global account management to create a Global Customer Management approach, integrating globally all aspects of the relationship between supplier and customer. The book gives a framework that guides international companies in using their relationships with global customers to their full potential.

The Global Cigarette

Howard Cox — 2011-10-03

Author:: Howard Cox
ISBN:: 9780198292210
Publisher:: Oxford University Press
Subjects:: Business and Management, Business History, International Business
DOI:: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198292210.001.0001
Published in print:: 2000
Published Online:: 2011-10-03

During the 1880s, the tobacco manufacturing industries of Britain and America were revolutionized by the introduction of mechanized cigarette production. The development of this novel, image-laden product constituted a triumph for the methods of mass production and mass distribution in this most traditional of consumer goods industries. This book charts the way in which these innovations in manufacturing and marketing methods led to the formation in 1902 of the British American Tobacco Co. as an Anglo-American multinational joint venture designed to promote cigarettes in international markets. Based on archive materials from a wide variety of sources, including the company's own internal records, this book provides the first authoritative account of BAT's evolution and growth up until the Second World War. In particular, it shows the way in which the company developed a vast array of international operating subsidiaries, explores how it managed these enterprises in different political and cultural contexts — notably in China and India — and analyses the way in which the company, as a mature multinational enterprise, coped with the severe international economic dislocations of the 1930s. In the era of globalization, this account of the operational and organizational arrangements of a prefigurative ‘global’ company will shed light on current debates on alliances, joint ventures, and international business.

The Future of Chinese Capitalism: Choices and Chances

Gordon Redding and Michael A. Witt — 2011-10-03

Author:: Gordon Redding, Michael A. Witt
ISBN:: 9780199575879
Publisher:: Oxford University Press
Subjects:: Business and Management, International Business, Political Economy
DOI:: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199575879.001.0001
Published in print:: 2010
Published Online:: 2011-10-03

Much has been said about the re-emergence of China to its historical position of eminence in the world economy, yet little is understood about the kind of economic system China is evolving. What are the rules of the game of business in today's China, and how are they likely to change over the next decades? This book sheds much-needed light on these questions. Building on recent conceptual and empirical advances, and rich in concrete examples, it offers a comprehensive and systematic exploration of present-day Chinese capitalism, its component parts, and their interdependencies. It suggests that Chinese capitalism, as practiced today, in many respects represents a development from traditional business practices, whose revival has been greatly aided by the influx of investments and managerial talent from the Regional Ethnic Chinese. On the basis of present trends in the Chinese economy as well as through comparison with five major types of capitalism — those of France, Germany, Japan, Korea, and the United States — the book derives a prediction of the probable development paths of Chinese capitalism and its likely competitive strengths and weaknesses.

Europe and the Japanese Challenge

Mark Mason — 2011-10-03

Author:: Mark Mason
ISBN:: 9780198292647
Publisher:: Oxford University Press
Subjects:: Business and Management, International Business, Political Economy
DOI:: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198292647.001.0001
Published in print:: 1997
Published Online:: 2011-10-03

Japanese foreign direct investment surged into Western markets in the late 1980s provoking intense policy debates in Europe and America. How did the European authorities respond to this ‘Japanese Challenge’? How did their response compare to the US policy record? Does this international business activity give any insights into the idea of increasing convergence of behaviour of the world's capitalist economies? To answer these questions, the book investigates European policies towards the Japanese Challenge in cross-national and historical perspectives. It compares the policy response of European governments with that of the US government by contrasting case studies in three key sectors: the automobile industry, consumer electronics, and banking. The case studies are then examined in the context of wider policy patterns and models across the entire Triad throughout the postwar period.

Environmental Regulations and Corporate Strategy

Alan Rugman, Julie Soloway, and John Kirton — 2011-10-03

Author:: Alan Rugman, Julie Soloway, John Kirton
ISBN:: 9780198295884
Publisher:: Oxford University Press
Subjects:: Business and Management, Strategy, International Business
DOI:: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198295884.001.0001
Published in print:: 1999
Published Online:: 2011-10-03

For many firms, the opening up of trade barriers meant unwelcome exposure to tough international competition. In order to protect themselves, many turned to local and national environmental regulations, forming coalitions which enabled them to force out their opponents, even though they were often contravening international environmental agreements in doing so. With the recent emergence of international trade and environment regimes wielding substantial powers, however, comes the opportunity for outward-facing and innovative firms to utilize these regimes and so challenge the discriminatory obstacles which have been becoming ever more common. This adherence to environmental regulations has promoted a broad array of corporate strategies; a fact most visible in North America, where firms are making use of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). This book develops a model of complex institutional responsiveness and demonstrates how this can guide firms through this new era of opportunities for international regulatory capture. Chapters apply the model within North America, identifying the implications for Europe and Asia. The research for the book is based on 300 confidential interviews with senior executives and officials in North American and European companies, national governments, and North American institutions, and it analyses twenty-four cases of firms who have either benefited or suffered from involvement with international institutions.

Comparative Entrepreneurship

D. Hugh Whittaker — 2011-10-03

Author:: D. Hugh Whittaker
ISBN:: 9780199563661
Publisher:: Oxford University Press
Subjects:: Business and Management, International Business
DOI:: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199563661.001.0001
Published in print:: 2009
Published Online:: 2011-10-03

This book compares processes of entrepreneurship, specifically of high-tech manufacturing, in the UK and Japan — countries associated with liberal market economies and coordinated market economies respectively. Similarities are found in approaches to opportunity and business creation which are strikingly different from recent policy emphases in the UK and Japan, inspired by Silicon Valley. Differences — in the backgrounds of entrepreneurs, founding teams, attitudes to growth and risk, innovation, competitive advantages, HRM, and collaborations — are summed up by the concepts of ‘project entrepreneurship’ and ‘lifework entrepreneurship.’ This study brings insights from entrepreneurship to comparative institutions and varieties of capitalism, and vice versa, and draws on two surveys and twenty-five case interviews in both the UK and Japan. It concludes with a discussion of dilemmas for entrepreneurship policy in the UK, Japan, and other countries.

The Collapse of the American Management Mystique

Robert R. Locke — 2011-10-03

Author:: Robert R. Locke
ISBN:: 9780198774068
Publisher:: Oxford University Press
Subjects:: Business and Management, Business History, International Business
DOI:: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198774068.001.0001
Published in print:: 1996
Published Online:: 2011-10-03

Every nation likes to believe myths about itself. Americans' belief in the superiority of their managerial know-how seemed to be among those most solidly based in reality. Yet, the author argues, despite its universal claims, American managerialism has never been more than a cultural peculiarity, one moreover whose claims to superiority had not been proved but assumed, on the premise that the best economy must have the best management. That premise, moreover, has not served American managerialism particularly well, for in the 1970s a gap opened up between the mystique of American management and the reality of a mediocre American managerial performance. The ‘mystique’ collapsed and those looking for best practice began to look elsewhere. The author provides a thorough examination of alternative forms of management that grew up in West Germany and Japan during the past decades. He argues that these alternative management forms have done a better job managing capitalist economies since the 1970s than has American managerialism. In fact, he asserts that American managerialism has become so dysfunctional that it threatens to undermine the prosperity of the American people, and America's role in the future world order. In the final chapter the author suggests ways that American management can follow in order to fulfil its original promise. Looking forward, he urges American management to unlearn much of the received wisdom and learn from the successes of others in order for the nation to enter the 21st century with a management equal to the social and economic challenges.

China's Leap into the Information Age

Qiwen Lu — 2011-10-03

Author:: Qiwen Lu
ISBN:: 9780198295372
Publisher:: Oxford University Press
Subjects:: Business and Management, International Business, Innovation
DOI:: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198295372.001.0001
Published in print:: 2000
Published Online:: 2011-10-03

This book provides the first in-depth analysis of how four innovative Chinese electronics enterprises — the Stone Group, the Legend Computer Group, the Founder Group, and the China Great Wall Computer Group — transformed the Chinese computer industry over the past decade. It explains how indigenous Chinese business enterprises that developed during the era of economic reform gained the high-technology capabilities and modern marketing know-how to compete domestically and internationally with powerful foreign multinationals. Through case studies based on first-hand access to company records and personnel, this book reveals how, building on technological capabilities accumulated during the central planning era, the institutional transformations of the economic reform era unleashed a unique pattern of organizational learning and innovative enterprise. This book also draws out the implications of the developmental experience of the Chinese computer electronics sector for understanding the institutional and organisational foundations for a successful transition from a centrally planned economy toward a market-oriented one.

Bridging Islands

Robert Kneller — 2011-10-03

Author:: Robert Kneller
ISBN:: 9780199268801
Publisher:: Oxford University Press
Subjects:: Business and Management, International Business, Innovation
DOI:: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199268801.001.0001
Published in print:: 2007
Published Online:: 2011-10-03

The innovative strength of the world's two largest economies, the United States and Japan, are based on two different forms of industrial and social organization. For the United States, venture companies play a key role in technical and economic progress, while in Japan they have only a minor role. This book argues that without vibrant new high technology companies, Japanese industry will decline inexorably. At the same time, if the favourable yet delicate environment in America is undermined, America will face collapse of its innovative and economic strength. Japan has done much to improve its environment for high technology ventures. It has some promising new high technology companies and gradually increasing numbers of entrepreneurial scientists and managers. But they continue to swim against the current. One reason is that large, established companies dominate high technology fields and pursue an autarkic innovation strategy-relying on research in-house or in affiliated companies. Another reason is that these same large companies still have preferential access to university discoveries, largely because of government policies. Thus, high technology ventures are deprived of niches in which to grow, skilled personnel, and their natural customer base. In the field of university-industry relations, steps can still be taken to improve the environment for high technology ventures-steps that would also increase the quality of university science. The American–Japanese innovation dichotomy represents a broader dichotomy between so-called liberal and coordinated market economies. The lessons from these two countries' experiences are applicable to many industrialized countries, and to developing countries shaping their innovation systems.

The Market Makers

Gary G. Hamilton, Benjamin Senauer, and Misha Petrovic — 2011-05-01

Author:: Gary G. Hamilton, Benjamin Senauer, Misha Petrovic
ISBN:: 9780199590179
Publisher:: Oxford University Press
Subjects:: Business and Management, International Business
DOI:: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199590179.001.0001
Published in print:: 2011
Published Online:: 2011-05-01

This book describes and analyzes the transformation that occurred in retailing in the last half of the twentieth century and demonstrates that this transformation has substantially changed the global economy. This transformation is both obvious and largely unrecognized. It is obvious, because the transformation is a part of our everyday lives. In the United States, in 1954, there were only 500 shopping centers across the country, most of which were by today’s standard very small. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, the shopping centers in the USA alone number over 50,000, many of which are gargantuan. This same expansion is happening throughout the world. In fact, the largest shopping centers are no longer in the USA, but are scattered around the globe. Many of the newest and largest of them are now in Asia. As pervasive and obvious as these changes are, there has been surprisingly little research on the global effects of retailing. This book is among the first books to address this important topic in a systematic and highly readable manner. The authors demonstrate that retailers and merchandisers increasingly organize the global economy by developing two types of markets, consumer markets and supplier markets. Using point-of-sales information, retailers anticipate and try to create consumer markets for the goods they sell. Based on this information, retailers also create and maintain supplier markets for the goods that they buy from manufacturers and that they in turn sell to consumers. Retailers attempt to “make” both types of markets, by setting prices and the terms and conditions of exchange. The extraordinary success that retailers and merchandisers have enjoyed in making both types of markets has had far-reaching consequences on how all national economies perform in an age of global retailing.

Corporate Governance, Competition, and Political Parties

Roger M. Barker — 2010-05-01

Author:: Roger M. Barker
ISBN:: 9780199576814
Publisher:: Oxford University Press
Subjects:: Business and Management, International Business, Corporate Governance and Accountability
DOI:: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199576814.001.0001
Published in print:: 2010
Published Online:: 2010-05-01

The corporate governance systems of continental Europe have traditionally been quite different to those of the liberal market economies (e.g., the United States and the United Kingdom). Company ownership has been dominated by incumbent blockholders, with a relatively minor role for minority shareholders and institutional investors. However, since the mid‐1990s, European corporations have adopted many of the characteristics of the Anglo‐American shareholder model. Furthermore, such an increased shareholder orientation has coincided with a significant role for the Left in European government. This presents a puzzle, as conventional wisdom does not conceive of the European Left as the natural ally of pro‐shareholder capitalism. This book provides an analysis of this paradox by arguing that the postwar support of the European Left for the prevailing blockholder‐dominated corporate system depended on the willingness of blockholders to share economic rents with employees, both through higher wages and greater employment stability. However, during the 1990s, product markets became more competitive in many European countries. The sharing of rents between social actors became increasingly difficult to sustain. In such an environment, the Left chose to relinquish its traditional social partnership with blockholders and embraced many aspects of the shareholder model. The hypothesis is initially explored through a panel data econometric analysis of fifteen non‐liberal market economies. Subsequent case study chapters examine the political economy of recent corporate governance change in Germany and Italy.

A Tale of Three Cities

Barbara Czarniawska — 2010-01-01

Author:: Barbara Czarniawska
ISBN:: 9780199252718
Publisher:: Oxford University Press
Subjects:: Business and Management, International Business
DOI:: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199252718.001.0001
Published in print:: 2002
Published Online:: 2010-01-01

The term ‘glocalization’ has been coined to indicate that globalization consists of two connected but opposite processes: it homogenizes ideas and practices, but also induces local adaptation and multiplication of differences. City management, with its complexities and international context, offers a paradigmatic example of glocalization. This book is based on fieldwork conducted in three European capitals: Warsaw, Stockholm, and Rome. City management has been conceptualized here as an action net which includes various organizations — municipal, state, private, and voluntary — as well as citizens who organize themselves ad hoc. At the outset of each study, leading politicians and other key figures in each city were asked to list their city's major problems and projects. Comparable projects were then selected for a detailed study in the field. The results revealed a fascinating combination of global influences and local adaptations.

National Capitalisms, Global Production Networks

Christel Lane and Jocelyn Probert — 2009-05-01

Author:: Christel Lane, Jocelyn Probert
ISBN:: 9780199214815
Publisher:: Oxford University Press
Subjects:: Business and Management, International Business, Political Economy
DOI:: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199214815.001.0001
Published in print:: 2009
Published Online:: 2009-05-01

This book studies the way that British, American, and German firms in the clothing industry (manufacturing and retail) co-ordinate and govern their global production networks/value chains. It offers a multi-level analysis, concerned with processes of economic interaction between international, regional, and national economic institutions and actors. This combines an analysis of international/regional regulatory systems, global markets, and conditions in the developing countries where suppliers are found with a focus on the recent development of the clothing industry in three western countries. The book's study of firms' global networks focuses on the power relationships between western producers and retailers on the one hand and between buyer firms in developed and supplier firms in developing countries on the other. The book additionally investigates their impact on labour. Utilizing over a hundred interviews in six countries on three continents, it follows the value chain from developed to developing countries and studies the many issues which confront students of globalization at the current time. The book combines theoretical perspectives from economic sociology, political economy, and management and seeks to utilise the complementary strengths of the Varieties of Capitalism (VoC) approach and that of Global Production Networks/Value Chains.

Can Latin American Firms Compete?

Robert Grosse and Luiz F. Mesquita — 2008-01-01

Author:: RobertGrosseDirector, Global Leadership Centre, Standard Bankhttp://aib.msu.edu/fellow.asp?FellowID=26Luiz F.MesquitaAssistant Professor of Business Policy & Strategy, Arizona State Universityhttps://webapp4.asu.edu/directory/person/633208
ISBN:: 9780199233755
Publisher:: Oxford University Press
Subjects:: Business and Management, International Business
DOI:: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199233755.001.0001
Published in print:: 2007
Published Online:: 2008-01-01

In many discussions of globalization and growth, attention focuses on Asia, notably China, South Korea, and India. In contrast, this book looks at business developments in another key emerging market region, Latin America. It examines the success and failure of Latin American firms in their own markets and elsewhere in the world, the reasons behind these outcomes, and these firms' future prospects. Contributors to this book draw on concepts from organization theory, industrial organization, economics, marketing, sociology, and political science. The book includes sections on the broad themes of competitiveness in Latin America, micro-level strategies of firms in specific sectors, and the competitiveness of firms in specific countries and competing in emerging markets. The cases examined range in size and sector, and include some of the largest firms in Latin America, such as as Embraer in Brazil, Quiñenco (Luksic) in Chile, Techint in Argentina, Grupo Carso in Mexico, Cisneros in Venezuela, and Grupo Empresarial Antioqueño in Colombia.

Shifting Boundaries of the Firm

Mari Sako — 2007-09-01

Author:: Mari Sako
ISBN:: 9780199268160
Publisher:: Oxford University Press
Subjects:: Business and Management, International Business
DOI:: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199268160.001.0001
Published in print:: 2006
Published Online:: 2007-09-01

All firms wrestle with restructuring that involves consolidation through mergers and acquisitions on the one hand, and fragmentation through outsourcing and spin-offs on the other. Corporate restructuring is a major driver in transforming labour markets, engendering concerns about employment security. The framework introduced in this book analyses shifting organizational boundaries, i.e., structural changes within corporations resulting from a series of strategic interplays between management and labour unions. This framework is used to investigate the symbiotic adjustments in firm and union boundaries in the automobile and electronics industries in Japan. The book draws upon interview and survey evidence to show how the strategic interplay between labour and management led to incremental changes in Japan's national institutions, including lifetime employment, coordinated wage bargaining, and enterprise union networks. The gradual introduction of diversity and flexibility in markets is thus linked directly to the role management and labour played in bringing about institutional change. The book also demonstrates that adding labour to the Chandlerian analysis of corporate strategy and structure leads us to a view that boundary decisions are often contested.

The Management of International Acquisitions

John Child, David Faulkner, and Robert Pitkethly — 2007-09-01

Author:: John Child, David Faulkner, Robert Pitkethly
ISBN:: 9780199267101
Publisher:: Oxford University Press
Subjects:: Business and Management, International Business
DOI:: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199267101.001.0001
Published in print:: 2003
Published Online:: 2007-09-01

The book addresses the different ways in which foreign companies acquire, integrate, and manage UK companies and their post-acquisition performance. It is based on research comprising case studies on forty company visits and interviews, and a survey questionnaire on post-acquisition management completed by over 200 companies. The first five chapters review post-acquisition performance and the changes in management practice introduced by acquirers of different nationality. The scale and scope of M&A is examined, followed by research into post-acquisition performance. The disappointing performance of acquisitions is noted, and knowledge about post-acquisition management reviewed. Chapter 4 discusses the debate over the relative significance of national management practices and international norms of practice. Chapter 5 compares management practices of the five countries from which the acquirers in this book originate. A further chapter describes the research scope and methods. Seven chapters then present the results of the study. They indicate that while considerable convergence in management practice is occurring, national management styles still exist among acquiring companies from the UK, USA, Japan, France, and Germany. Furthermore, although some policies are generally associated with better post-acquisition performance, no one national approach is more successful if it is implemented with confidence, determination, and consistency. Failure tends to follow from a lack of these qualities, rather than the ‘wrong’ management style. The book concludes with the findings of the research and relates them to the issues of theory and practical policy in the early chapters.

Local Players in Global Games

Peer Hull Kristensen and Jonathan Zeitlin — 2007-09-01

Author:: Peer Hull Kristensen, Jonathan Zeitlin
ISBN:: 9780199275625
Publisher:: Oxford University Press
Subjects:: Business and Management, International Business
DOI:: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199275625.001.0001
Published in print:: 2004
Published Online:: 2007-09-01

What happens when previously autonomous firms from different countries, each with their own identities, routines, and capabilities, come together inside a single multinational corporation? Can a cooperative strategy be established that advances the development of the multinational as a whole, or do mutual misunderstandings and the unintended consequences of strategic interaction among the players lead instead to endemic conflict and disintegration? This book tackles these questions through an empirical study of the strategic constitution of an ‘actually existing’ multinational. It does so by tracing the historical construction of the multinational corporation from the confluence of multiple formerly independent firms and analyzing the interacting web of strategies pursued by different actors within it. The analysis reveals how workers, unionists, subsidiary managers, and corporate executives pursue separate strategic games rooted in their local contexts, whose global outcome contrasts sharply with idealized views of the multinational as an integrated and coordinated organization. By comparing these findings to those of the broader literature, the book proceeds to a theoretical examination of the challenges of managing the multinational, and the difficulties of resolving them through conventional organizational means. The book proposes new procedural solutions aimed at fostering mutual recognition and knowledge exchange within the multinational corporation, and explore how a multinational public may be created to press for the necessary reforms in corporate governance. As the success of such reforms is far from preordained, the book concludes with a series of alternative scenarios that illustrate the many obstacles to a smooth continuation of the globalization process.

The Global and the Local

Arndt Sorge — 2007-09-01

Author:: Arndt Sorge
ISBN:: 9780199278909
Publisher:: Oxford University Press
Subjects:: Business and Management, International Business
DOI:: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199278909.001.0001
Published in print:: 2005
Published Online:: 2007-09-01

The internationalization of business systems is interdependent with the re-enactment of societal differences in business institutions and culture. Combined approaches from social sciences, including business, management, political science, and history are a demanding but very fruitful option to explain how business systems evolve. Long-term perspectives overcome the limitations of studies focused on topical developments or shorter periods. Comparisons of societies or economies require attention to historical depth. Germany as a nation — here taken as an example and case in point — and as a business system is of great heterogeneity and has built its stability paradoxically, generating and absorbing a great amount of change. But this also means that the succession of models is governed by the dialectics inherent to a fundamental bedrock. Internationalization has always counteracted received domestic culture and institutions. At the same time, patterns of culture and institutions in place, at a given time, have influenced the path of internationalization. The international transfer of ‘best practice’ or any other kind of international learning has been translated and adapted into the domestic repertoire of societies and economies. The notion of ‘globalization’ evokes undue expectations of pervasive assimilation worldwide. Germany is a magnificent example in which to demonstrate that internationalization is always partial although it may be thorough. National culture and institutions have always become nationally specific by international exposure, and the latter always leads to new syntheses of culture and institutions which establish new national ‘models’.

From Underdogs to Tigers

Ashish Arora and Alfonso Gambardella — 2007-09-01

Author:: AshishAroraAssociate Professor of Economics and Public Policy, Heinz School, Carnegie Mellon Universityhttp://www.fuqua.duke.edu/faculty_research/faculty_directory/arora/AlfonsoGambardellaProfessor of Economics and Management, Laboratory of Economics and Management, Sant' Anna School of Advanced Studieshttp://faculty.unibocconi.eu/alfonsogambardella/
ISBN:: 9780199275601
Publisher:: Oxford University Press
Subjects:: Business and Management, International Business
DOI:: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199275601.001.0001
Published in print:: 2005
Published Online:: 2007-09-01

In 1980, the Indian software industry was practically non-existent. By the 1990s, the industry was one of the largest employers in manufacturing. Similar patterns of growth can be found in other emerging economies. Given that the software industry is commonly viewed as a high-tech industry, how is it that such spectacular growth has occurred in countries where high-tech industries would not seem likely to develop? This book examines the reasons behind this phenomenon, and asks whether it suggests a new model of economic development. The contributors explore the implications of the rise of these newcomers to the software market for the global industry, and whether there are things to be learned about the role of human capital in economic growth, firm formation and capabilities, business and managerial models, and industry structure.

Business Groups in East Asia

Sea-Jin Chang — 2007-09-01

Author:: Sea-JinChangProfessor of Business Administration, Korea Universityhttps://apps-bschool.nus.edu.sg/asp/staffprofile/cv.asp?id=2354
ISBN:: 9780199287345
Publisher:: Oxford University Press
Subjects:: Business and Management, International Business
DOI:: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199287345.001.0001
Published in print:: 2006
Published Online:: 2007-09-01

The 1997 Asian financial crisis principally affected Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Korea, as well as other East Asian countries heavily dependent on intra-regional trade. Banks and other financial institutions quickly became insolvent, and heavily indebted industrial firms went bankrupt. Many of these firms were affiliated with the business groups of this region, yet most groups did not immediately collapse, indeed they proved remarkably robust, some surviving and even prospering. This book examines these East Asian business groups and their subsequent restructuring following the Asian Crisis. East Asian nations embarked on very different trajectories in response to this common external shock. The Asian Crisis affected the inter-relationships among the socio-cultural environment, the state, and the market of each country quite differently and had distinct effects on the operations of these countries’ business groups. This slow yet divergent pattern of development counters globalization theorists’ arguments about rapid global convergence. Yet East Asian business groups face an uncertain future. The influence of foreign investors has increased substantially since the crisis. Governments supervise banks more closely and have loosened restrictions on mergers and hostile takeovers, further strengthening the discipline of the market. Various entry barriers that had inhibited foreign multinationals from competing in national markets were lifted. Under these new conditions, business groups in East Asia should reconfigure their business structures and adjust their corporate governance systems to regain momentum for further growth. This book concludes that business groups will continue to be important vehicles for the sustained future growth of East Asia.

Assembling Work

Tony Elger and Chris Smith — 2007-09-01

Author:: Tony Elger, Chris Smith
ISBN:: 9780199241514
Publisher:: Oxford University Press
Subjects:: Business and Management, International Business
DOI:: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199241514.001.0001
Published in print:: 2005
Published Online:: 2007-09-01

This book uses research on Japanese firms in the UK to contribute to broader debate about the role of international firms in reconstructing contemporary work and employment relations. Japanese manufacturing subsidiaries in Britain have often been portrayed as carriers of Japanese best practice models of work organization and employment relations. This research challenges this view on the basis of intensive comparative workplace case studies of several Japanese manufacturing plants in Britain. It develops an analysis of system, society, and dominance effects to identify the competing pressures upon such firms, and argues that factory managers have to negotiate the implications of these cross pressures. Thus, the analysis focuses on the ways in which Japanese and British managers have sought to construct distinctive production and employment regimes in the light of their particular branch plant mandates and competencies, the evolving character of management-worker relations within factories, and the varied product and labour market conditions they face. It also explores the scope and bases of consent and dissent among employees working in these modern workplaces. On this basis, it highlights the constraints as well as the opportunities facing managers of such greenfield workplaces, the uncertainties that arise from intractable features of capitalist employment relations, and the ways in which employment and production regimes are adapted and remade in specific corporate and local contexts. Finally, it assesses the strengths and weaknesses of three competing contemporary images of international subsidiaries, as transplants, as hybrids, and as branch plants.

Americanization and Its Limits

Jonathan Zeitlin and Gary Herrigel — 2007-09-01

Author:: JonathanZeitlinUniversity of Wisconsin-Madisonhttp://www.lafollette.wisc.edu/facultystaff/zeitlin-jonathan.htmlGaryHerrigelUniversity of Chicagohttp://political-science.uchicago.edu/faculty/herrigel.shtml
ISBN:: 9780199269044
Publisher:: Oxford University Press
Subjects:: Business and Management, International Business
DOI:: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199269044.001.0001
Published in print:: 2004
Published Online:: 2007-09-01

Throughout the evolution of the modern world economy, new models of productive efficiency and business organization have emerged — in Britain in the 19th century, in the US in the early (and perhaps late) 20th century, and in Japan in the 1980s and 1990s. At each point, foreign observers have looked for the secrets of success and best practice, and initiatives have been taken to transmit and diffuse. This book looks in detail at ‘Americanization’ in Europe and Japan in the post-war period. The processes, ideologies, and adaptations in a number of different countries (the UK, France, Italy, Japan, Sweden, Germany) and different sectors (engineering, telecommunications, motor vehicles, steel, and rubber) are explored. This book details theoretical analysis of the complexities of the diffusion of business organization and the powerful influences of Americanization in this century.