The impact of international interorganizational relationships on creativity: the local partner perspective in an emerging country

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yasmine Boughzala ◽  
Berangere Lauren Szostak

PurposeThis paper aims to understand how international interorganizational relationships (IORs) impact the organizational creativity of a local partner in an emerging country, and how the creative capacities of emerging countries firms are developing.Design/methodology/approachThe study is exploratory and qualitative, based on five IORs between European multinational corporations (MNCs) and Tunisian firms operating in the consumer goods sector analyzed using the Gioia method.FindingsThe results show that it seems necessary for firms in emerging countries first to be legitimate, then to have dynamic capacities (learning capacities in particular), and that they know how to develop an innovation strategy and implement it concretely. The authors highlight three different organizational mechanisms. The first concerns analyzing the legitimacy of the local partner to engage in an innovation process based on its distinctive capacities and formalization of procedures. The second involves building dynamic capabilities, especially technological and managerial skills, in order to meet the challenges of the growing collaboration between the partners and to expand their mandate. The third deals with implementing an innovation strategy on two fronts: trust between partners and sustainable innovation.Research limitations/implicationsThe contributions focus on the international dimension of the IORs' impact on creativity and the role of the local partner's creative capacities. The work highlights to what extent “techno-centric” creativity plays a role in the absorption capacity of local partners, as well as the level of assistance provided by MNCs for developing innovation in emerging countries' firms. Moreover, our results show that increasing awareness of ecological and responsible consumption is reorienting production patterns on both local and global scales and offers many benefits for local and multinational firms. The limitations concern the sample size, the narrow diversity of the sector and the lack of information regarding multinational firms.Originality/valueThe originality of this paper is to show the construction of the creative process at the level of the local partner, from the execution of a specification to the implementation of a sustainable innovation strategy.

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alberto Bayo-Moriones ◽  
Jose Enrique Galdon-Sanchez ◽  
Sara Martinez-de-Morentin

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to analyze how the design of performance appraisal is influenced by the competitive strategy of the firm. Then, this paper examines if the alignment between appraisal and strategy impacts firm performance.Design/methodology/approachThe study sample includes 258 Spanish firms in the manufacturing and services sectors. This information was gathered through questionnaires addressed to the CEO and the senior human resources manager. Several econometric models are estimated, using robust regression analysis and including a set of relevant control variables.FindingsA positive relationship is found between an innovation strategy and developmental performance appraisal. A cost strategy has a negative impact on the adoption of developmental performance appraisal. The findings also confirm that firms with a quality strategy and developmental appraisal have higher performance. In addition, firms adopting an innovation strategy and administrative appraisal enjoy higher return of equity.Research limitations/implicationsFuture research should analyze the dynamics of the relationships between appraisal, strategy and performance to rule out the flaws of cross-sectional data. Another potential extension is the analysis of the interactions of the design of other human resources management practices with both competitive strategy and firm performance.Practical implicationsFirms can improve performance by aligning performance appraisal design with strategy. Those with an innovation strategy should choose administrative appraisal, and those competing on quality should focus on developmental appraisal.Originality/valueThis paper compares the theoretical recommendations on performance appraisal for different competitive strategies, what firms actually do, and the impact that the alignment between appraisal and strategy has on firm performance.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Prabod Dharshana Munasinghe ◽  
D.G.K. Dissanayake ◽  
Angela Druckman

Purpose The process of fashion design varies between market segments, yet these variations have not yet been properly explored. This study aims to examine the fashion design process as practised at the mass-market level, as this is the most vibrant and the largest market segment in terms of production volumes and sales. Design/methodology/approach It is observed that 15 semi-structured interviews were conducted with mass-market fashion designers. Key activities of the mass-market design process were identified and a comparative analysis was conducted with the general design process. Findings The mass-market design process is found to prioritise profits rather than aesthetic aspects, with the buyer exercising more power than the designer. This hinders creativity, which, in turn, may impede a move towards more environmentally benign designs. Originality/value The clothing industry is responsible for high environmental impacts and many of these impacts arise through decisions made in the design stage. In particular, the mass-market for clothing because of its high volume of sales and fast throughput, accounts for a great deal of the impact. However, little is understood about the design process that is practised in the mass-fashion market. This paper fills the gap by developing a framework that describes the mass-market design process. Understanding the design process will enable progress to be made towards achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production.


2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 190-205 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matheus Baldo Cordeiro ◽  
Mario Henrique Ogasavara ◽  
Gilmar Masiero

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze the relevant aspects that influence foreign subsidiary’s performance and remain how they retain competitiveness in international markets during economic crisis. To investigate this effect, this research analyzes the behavior of Japanese subsidiaries located in European countries during the pre- and post-crisis periods that started in the USA in 2008 and spread all over the world. Design/methodology/approach This is a quantitative study with an analysis based on longitudinal data of foreign subsidiaries of Japanese multinational firms during the period 2006-2013. It applies a multiple linear regression with panel data using fixed effects models. Findings The findings show that within-firm factors related to local experiential knowledge, market entry through joint ventures with partners from the same nationality, and subsidiary management with a team of expatriates all have a positive impact on subsidiary performance during times of economic crisis. Moreover, within-country factors involving macroeconomic aspects related to inflation rate and population income indicators show a negative impact on performance. Finally, the results confirm that subsidiary performance is higher in the pre-crisis period, showing the importance of considering economic crisis aspects in longitudinal studies. Practical implications The result has implications for managers of multinational firms to understand which factors most impact the success of their foreign subsidiaries during times of economic crisis. In this way, managers can, with greater confidence, decide to reach the most important performance indicator in subsidiary management. Originality/value The majority of studies on economic crisis is based on an economic perspective and mostly investigates Asian and Argentinean crises. When considering a firm-level perspective, most research studies conducted on a subsidiary level are cross-sectional or use survival as a measure of performance. This paper applies a longitudinal study using subsidiary-level data and analyzes performance by sales and productivity measurement. In addition, it investigates whether or not within-country and within-firm factors impacted subsidiary performance during the 2008 economic crisis.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mariam Jamaleh ◽  
Abha Shukla

Purpose Financial internationalization is of particular importance to emerging country firms. Its significance arises from the impact of institutional void and related agency problems (common to emerging markets) on the internationalization path of these firms. Building on concepts from international finance, agency theory and institutional theory, this paper aims to examine the main aspects of financial internationalization by emerging country multinationals, namely, cross-listing, foreign ownership and foreign independent directors. Design/methodology/approach This paper follows a multiple case study approach which is a good fit for the exploratory nature of this research. The interest is to examine the context-driven financial internationalization of each case firm and replicate the firm-level information to find a common strategy. Findings The findings suggest that financial internationalization by emerging country multinationals starts mainly as these firms plan to enter advanced country markets. It is a dynamic process that entails interaction between financial internationalization and real internationalization, as well as among different aspects of financial internationalization. Cross-listing comprises the first stage of the process. Then, foreign ownership, particularly foreign institutional investments, would increase gradually in response to advances in financial and factor markets. Recruiting foreign independent directors seems to be adopted last, possibly out of fear of losing control of strategic decisions. Originality/value This paper presents a unique perspective that delineates different stages of the process of financial internationalization by emerging country multinationals. This complements the efforts to explain the distinct path of internationalization followed by these firms and supplements scarce literature by including emerging multinationals from India where the matter has not yet attracted proper attention.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Clara Margaça ◽  
Brizeida Hernández Sánchez ◽  
José Carlos Sánchez-García

Purpose To achieve sustainable development to protect the environment and society, an increasing number of scholars have conducted in-depth research on sustainable and responsible consumption behaviors. The outputs demonstrate that consumers are increasingly concerned and aware of the issues associated with the excessive use of resources. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the validity and reliability of the Sustainable Consumption Scale (SC-S) in the Spanish context. Design/methodology/approach The adaptation of SC-S to Spanish was carried out in accordance with international methodological standards. The Spanish version of this scale was applied empirically to the research sample was composed of 962 university students (49.1% male and 50.9% female) from 54 Universities in 15 regions of Spain that participated in the study. Findings The analyses carried out to verify the psychometric properties retained 16 items from the original proposal, grouped equally in three factors: Cognitive – six items; Affective – seven items; and Conative – four items. The scale presented adequate adjustment indexes, as well as optimal values of the different measures of reliability, recommended by the literature. Originality/value This instrument can be used by the Spanish academic community, which will contribute to the assessment and prediction regarding a sustainable consumption attitude. From these screenings, it will be also possible to understand the impact and development of the objectives outlined by Agenda 2030.


2019 ◽  
Vol 36 (5) ◽  
pp. 565-581
Author(s):  
Gilles Séré de Lanauze ◽  
Béatrice Siadou-Martin

Purpose Many western consumers have become sensitive to the negative effects of their consumption levels in many product categories and those new attitudes are challenging their habitual consumption behaviors. How do dissonant attitudes influence the process toward behavioral change? How does external information reinforce those conflicting attitudes with new dissonant cognitions and foster intentions to modify behavior? This study aims to propose a conceptual model, based on cognitive dissonance theory, which introduces psychological discomfort as an important mediator toward behavioral change intentions. Design/methodology/approach Two studies are conducted. Using structural equation modeling under Amos, hypotheses are tested and validated in the field of meat consumption on a sample of 501 French consumers. A second study investigates the impact of the nature of the stimulus on consumers’ responses. Findings The results show that psychological discomfort is increased by the contact with dissonant external information and that consumers may at the same time minimize the effects of additional cognition by implementing informational strategies such as trivialization or decredibilization to defend their consumption behavior. Research limitations/implications Future researchers could consider the various objections to meat consumption separately and further explore the dynamics between external information, consumer cognitions and consumer consumption behavior in diverse consumption contexts. Practical implications The authors advise meat marketers to reduce consumer psychological discomfort by promoting the hedonic perceived value and by presenting credible counterarguments to defend the benefits of their products. Social implications The study may encourage advocates of lower meat consumption to provide credible information about the detrimental effects of meat consumption to influence behavioral change intentions. Originality/value As responsible consumption becomes a key trend in western societies, new attitudes, fostered by external critical information, are influencing consumption behavior in many product categories. This research contributes to a better understanding of the attitude–behavior gap in a context of emerging criticism toward highly consumed and traditional products.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Federico Carril-Caccia

PurposeThe present article analyses the effects of cross-border mergers and acquisitions (CBM&As) on targets' total factor productivity (TFP), employment, wages and intangible-asset investment. The author investigates whether the impact of CBM&As differs depending on the origin of the investing multinational (MNE). The author distinguishes between CBM&As from European countries, other developed countries and emerging countries.Design/methodology/approachThe author makes use of a unique firm-level data set of foreign direct investment in the French manufacturing sector. The authors applies propensity score matching and difference in differences to estimate the effect of CBM&As.FindingsThe results show that the consequences of CBM&As differ strongly depending on the origin. CBM&As from European MNEs have a positive impact on TFP, wages and intangible-asset investment, and those from emerging countries seem to increase wages and intangible-asset investments. In contrast, CBM&As that originate from MNEs from other developed countries do not have a significant effect.Originality/valueThis article contributes to the growing literature on the effects of foreign direct investment that highlights the relevance of accounting for the MNEs' origin. In particular, it is the first to address the impact of emerging-country MNEs' CBM&As in Europe.


2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 253-272 ◽  
Author(s):  
Said Shah ◽  
Jamil Anwar ◽  
SAF Hasnu

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of internationalization of investment on corporate policies through multinational firms (MNFs) and thereby variation in financial performances when compared to domestic firms (DFs) using 10 years’ (2004-2013) secondary data of 153 firms listed on Pakistan Stock Exchange. Design/methodology/approach This study applies regression and ratio analyses for testing of hypotheses and other statistics. Findings The results indicate that the performance of MNFs is better than that of DFs primarily because of internationalization of investments and inventory utilization. The rest of the factors included in the model, namely, cash conversion cycle and corporate governance (CG) indices, have less prominent role in determining firms’ performance. Research limitations/implications Sample size was restricted to 153 firms, as complete data for the period selected to carry out the study were available only for these firms. For determining the quality of CG, only sample average has been used as bench mark due to non-availability of industrial average. Practical implications The recommendations of the research can be used by economic planners and corporate experts as policy guidelines and bench mark for improving the corporate and economic performance of the country. Besides, these recommendations are beneficial for emerging economies particularly and developed economies generally across the globe. Social implications Economic and financial regulators can get guidance from the findings of the study to adjust national-level corporate planning. For example, State Bank of Pakistan (the central bank of the country) can amend its prudential regulations with regard to maintaining liquidity by corporate units according to the results of the study. Corporate units can directly get guidance and adopt the findings of the study in their corporate planning to improve their performance. The findings and methodology of the research can also be used by research students on further exploring the field. Originality/value Splitting the sample into domestic and multinationals firms, separately and jointly analyzing these firms and then comparing corporate strategies of these firms based on location are unique.


2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-94 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luis Enrique Ibarra-Morales ◽  
Monica Blanco-Jimenez ◽  
Beatriz Alejandra Hurtado-Bringas

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to boost the internationalization of companies by implementing key factors that will help them to increase their exports in a context of an emerging country such as Mexico, where very few small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) achieve internationalization. Design/methodology/approach According to different theories on the internationalization of companies, five independent variables were designed to measure their effect on the export performance using a multiple regression model on a sample of 95 Mexican industrial SMEs. In this context, the objective of this study is to investigate the impact of the product price, product quality, installed capacity, innovation capacity and financial capacity on the export performance of SMEs; and to identify the factors that are more significant. Findings The results indicate that innovation has a positive relationship, while the price of the product has a negative relationship with the internationalization of small- and medium-sized enterprises, showing that there is a possibility of overemphasizing the role of both variables in export performance of SMEs, at least in the Mexican context. The rest of the variables were not statistically significant to the generated model, perhaps because they are implicitly considered at the time of exporting and entering international markets. Originality/value These results will help companies to focus their efforts on obtaining resources to maintain and expand exports and find new opportunities in foreign markets to grow. They also show that companies can implement different types of internationalization strategies with the study’s variables to achieve better performance.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaqib Sarwar ◽  
Muhammad Asif Khan ◽  
Zahid Sarwar ◽  
Wajid Khan

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the critical aspect of financial development, human capital and their interactive term on economic growth from the perspective of emerging economies. Design/methodology/approach Data set ranged from 2002 to 2017 of 83 emerging countries used in this research and collected from world development indicators of the World Bank. The two-step system generalized method of moments is used to conduct this research within the endogenous growth model while controlling time and country-specific effects. Findings The findings of the study indicate that financial development has a positive and significant effect on economic growth. In emerging countries, human capital also has a positive impact on economic growth. Financial development and human capital interactively affect economic growth for emerging economies positively and significantly. Research limitations/implications The data set is limited to 83 emerging countries of the world. The time period for the study is 2002 to 2017. Originality/value This research contributes to the existing literature on human capital, financial development and economic growth. Limited research has been conducted on the impact of financial development and human capital on economic growth.


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